Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted
by November Day
Summary: Sequel to "I Smile Real Hard." The lifes and loves of the children of Sparrow and Charlie.
1. Default Chapter

Ta-dah! A sequel! It's only been, well never mind.  
  
Disclaimer: own nothing  
  
Bowling: The Sport of the Heartbroken  
  
A Prologue that unlike last time actually is important to the story!  
  
"Mac, I hate children."  
  
"Pretend you do sir. People like people who like children."  
  
"Who in their right mind would ever want to procreate?"  
  
"Those who want to continue the human race?"  
  
"Watch it Mac."  
  
"I apologize sir, now remember, smile, pat their heads and don't tell them that if they touch you you'll have their entire family deported."  
  
"I make no promises."  
  
"Then why the hell did you get into politics sir?" Mr. Webcor, one of three gentlemen running to be mayor of New York was only able to give his campaign manager a glare before being thrust out onto the stage and to the cameras.  
  
Seventeen years have gone by since last we saw the Thomas's and the rest. Sparrow and Charlie are still happily married. Mac, now 28 years old is a lawyer, much to no ones surprise and deeply interested in politics. At said age of 28, Mac had already been hired by one Gene Webcor to run his campaign for Mayor of New York. At the moment Mr. Webcor was speaking to the masses about cuts to education, one of the hot issues of the election at a local pre-school.  
  
Fifteen minutes into the presentation, Mac's cell phone began to ring.  
  
"So, you do realize that you are going to be directly responsible for letting the devil take over New York right?"  
  
"Is it an O'Connelly thing never ever to give a greeting?"  
  
"What's a greeting between sisters? And besides you're putting the devil in office. No one that evil deserves a greeting. They deserve to be spit upon."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Whatever, that's not the reason why I'm calling. You realize, right that throughout this whole interview the poor kid you sicked the devil on is slowly being strangled?" Mac quickly peeked behind the curtain and to her horror saw that her sister was right. It seemed that the kid had been squirming too much in Mr. Webcor's lap. Mac frantically began signing to her boss to let go of the chokehold he had on the kid.  
  
"Has he let up?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Curses!" Mac with the phone still in her ear looked desperately around her hoping an idea or help would appear.  
  
"You might want to do something soon, he's turning blue." Mac desperately signaled again to her boss to let up the chokehold on the kid, but he ignored her. She tried again only adding more theatrics, but all Mr. Webcor did was discretely give her the bird.  
  
"The....."  
  
"Language, sister dear."  
  
"He just gave me the finger!"  
  
"The piece of ...."  
  
"Enough! What am I going to do? He's really going to have problems with parent voters if he strangles a kid!"  
  
"Mac, the man just gave you the finger!"  
  
"He's not the first person to do so."  
  
"Yes, but he may be the first person you let get away with it."  
  
"Indeed. Hold on."  
  
"Why? What are you going to do?"  
  
"Something diplomatic."  
  
"Never your stronger suite." Mac just gave her phone an annoyed look and set it down. Brushing herself off and composing herself, Mac drew a big breath and walked out from behind the curtain and onto the stage. Camera flashes greeted her. With purpose in her step she walked over to her boss and kneeled down beside him.  
  
"Sir, you have an important phone call."  
  
"Well take a message Mac, do what I pay you to do." Mr. Webcor said this all while still smiling at the crowd and waving at a few select people.  
  
"Sir, it's very important." At this statement Mr. Webcor turned away from the crowd and looked at his campaign manager. In a rather harsh whisper, Mr. Webcor hissed,  
  
"As you may not be able to see right now, I'm sure due to your idiocy, but I'm right in the middle of something. And quite frankly, I don't care if it's the hospital phoning to tell me my wife was in a car accident and only has moments to live. So, I will make this ridiculously clear for your sake, take. A. Message. Or take a hike."  
  
"Yes, sir. But respectfully sir, I would suggest you let up your hold on the child, unless you want to spend election night in jail." Mac's hiss matched her boss's for coldness. Mr. Webcor quickly looked at the blue face of the child in his lap and to Mac's relief loosened his hold.  
  
"That will be all Miz. Thomas, quit wasting my time." Mac, annoyed, walked off the stage and picked up her phone.  
  
"I need a new job."  
  
"That's for sure, he's tightened his grip again."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"Didn't you tell him to loosen up?"  
  
"He seems to have ignored me."  
  
"A devil AND an idiot."  
  
"Screw this."  
  
"Now hunny don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a sadistic smile on her face, Mac took off her right pump and with a calculated accuracy threw it right at the nose of Mr. Webcor from the side of the stage, causing an important chain of reactions. First Mr. Webcor let go of his chokehold on the kid, then used those newly released hands to stem the blood flow from his bleeding nose, all the while uttering such swear words that Mr. Webcor assured himself a lost election.  
  
"Nice aim Mac."  
  
"Thank you Finn. But I have to go now, the police are arresting me."  
  
"Cool! You're a political prisoner! Keep up the fight even if they use Chinese bamboo torture techniques!"  
  
"Will do, by the way could you phone Sparrow up to come bail me?"  
  
"Don't I always?"  
  
"Thanks kid. I love yah!"  
  
"Yah, I love me too." Laughing to herself, Mac closed her cell phone and turned to the police officers. They promptly cuffed her and led her to a car all the while with Mr. Webcor screaming about things he would do to Mac that were even worse then Chinese Bamboo torture in the background.  
  
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"So," asked Sparrow a couple hours later and with $1000 less in her bank account, "you coming over for the weekend?"  
  
"I might as well, I highly doubt Mr. Webcor will have anything for me this weekend or the one after that, or the one after that."  
  
"Face it kid, I don't think he's going to have you come in for weekends ever again." 


	2. Freaky Friday

Thank you to my 4 reviewers! Your comments were appreciated!  
  
As it Stands:  
  
Sparrow O'Connelly-Thomas, age 48. Charlie Thomas – age 50 Finn (Findabhair)Thomas- age 17-Female Atticus Thomas- age 16- Male Ginny Thomas - age 6- female  
  
Disclaimer: Own nothing.  
  
Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted  
  
Chapter 1: FREAKY FRIDAY'S  
  
Mac awoke sluggishly to her phone ringing. In a daze she turned to her alarm clock sitting beside her on the side table. 5:00AM blared back at her.  
  
"Ahhh," yelled Mac jumping away from it in terror and slamming her head into the other side table as she landed. Muttering swear words to herself, Mac picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello, dear! I just found you the perfect husband! He has blonde hair and eyes to die for! A little lean in the purse, only worth a couple million, but you are past your prime and you can not expect the best! Now, do you want to hear more?" Mac looked at the phone in her hand for a second confused.....then quite calmly hung it up. That was weird, she thought. Just as she had started to lie down, the phone started to ring again. Mac just stared at it for a second quizzically before calmly picking it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"What happened dear? I was talking to you and then I got disconnected!" Slam went the phone into the cradle and on went Mac's brain...sort of. Frantically Mac punched in a number. Someone picked up on the third ring.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi Sparrow, its Mac. Why is your mother phoning me?"  
  
"Because that's what family likes to do from time to time to keep in contact?"  
  
"AT 5 AM!?" Mac officially woke up.  
  
"Oh no." Sparrow sounded like someone had just died.  
  
"What do you mean, oh no?" asked Mac as she looked at her alarm clock again in disgust.  
  
"It's started."  
  
"What's started?" Mac asked forgetting about the alarm clock for a moment.  
  
"The early morning phone calls of course. I should have seen this coming!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"The early morning phone calls. You're 28 and not married."  
  
"What does the one have to do with the other?" Mac was not in the mood for guessing games and her tone implied that.  
  
"When I turned 28 my mother started phoning me at 4 am to either try to set me up or just to talk about inane things."  
  
"Alright, so this is an O'Connelly thing?"  
  
"Oh no, this is a My Mother thing. You've turned 28 and are not married. Therefore my mother feels she must start phoning you in the early hours to chat."  
  
"Why would she do that?" There was a pause before Sparrow answered, of which I'm sure Sparrow took the phone away from her ear and looked at it deeply confused.  
  
"It's my mother! She hasn't made sense since the 60's. And since it was the 60's you have to wonder if she ever did!"  
  
"That'll be rather inconvenient."  
  
"You want to talk about inconvenient! She phoned me at 4! In fact she still does."  
  
"Why didn't you just let the phone ring?"  
  
"Tried that, didn't work."  
  
"What do you mean? If you don't answer the phone, she can't talk to you."  
  
"Foolish child, do you honestly think that will stop MY mother?"  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Mac as she fluffed her pillow.  
  
"How long ago did you get off the phone with her and how did you get off so quickly?"  
  
"Five minutes and I think I may have hung up on her. Twice." Mac for a second looked horrified by the realization of this fact, but then seemed to remember that it was 5 a.m. and she wasn't responsible for her actions that early in the morning.  
  
"Oh no."  
  
"Quit saying that!"  
  
"Fine, but if you're naked I suggest you throw on a robe or something. My mother doesn't stop for doors."  
  
"You mean she's going to come here?" asked Mac quickly getting out bed and throwing on a robe as suggested.  
  
"Going to come, she's probably already in your building."  
  
"But it's 5 in the morning!" said Mac picking up her alarm clock and waving it about. At that moment there was a brief knock at the door.  
  
"Oh my God," Mac muttered, smiling slightly because of the complete absurdity of the situation.  
  
"When she comes in let me talk to her."  
  
"I haven't let her in yet," said Mac putting some slippers on her feet.  
  
"Look up kid." Mac did and there standing right in front of her dangling a key was Gwen.  
  
"Phone," Mac greeted handing it over while she ripped the alarm clock cord out of the wall.  
  
"Thank you dear. Greetings and salutations! Oh, it's only you Sparrow dear." Mac went to put some tea on. It was going to be a long morning.  
  
Little did Mac know later that day she'd be in jail for throwing a shoe at her employer.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Findabhair (Finn-ah-veer) Thomas, known pretty much exclusively as Finn, prepared for battle. With lunch tray in hand, she walked calmly toward one of the lunch tables crowded with various people.  
  
"What the hell do you want Thomas?" asked a cute boy with blue as she approached his table.  
  
Finn did not even hesitate. She dumped her entire spaghetti plate onto his head. Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and stared.  
  
"That is what I wanted to do and this is what I want to say, you cow. You come near Jack again, I will make you cry." Calmly Finn turned on her heel and headed back the way she came. The boy now with spaghetti sauce dripping off his head turned onto his brand new looking orange designer label shirt sputtered for a second. Then, quickly getting to his feet, he opened his mouth to say something. He was cut off before he could even mutter a peep by Finn.  
  
"Save it. I really don't care to hear what unoriginal insults you have. This is how it stands. You even look at Jack again, I will make you cry. From pain? From humiliation? From pure anger? I don't know yet. But if you piss me off enough right now, I could easily make it all three." With that, Finn continued to walk calmly out of the cafeteria.  
  
Finn was aptly named. At the time of Sparrow's pregnancy, Gwen had unfortunately gone through a phase where she believed she had failed in life (eventually disproved to herself when she managed to get Jay's oldest child married off to a multi-billionaire who had connections to Dutch royalty). In that time, Gwen decided that at least one of her grandchildren had to be named after her, so she could symbolically re-live her life again. Again, unfortunately Sparrow was the only one who was pregnant at the time and found herself bombarded by her mother, which of course meant the rest of the family, dropping not so subtle hints to name her child Gwen. Sparrow proclaiming that she rather her child suffer the fate of Atlas (dude that has to hold the world up forever) then that of her Mothers, said no. Well, Sparrow held out for nine months. But somehow Gwen convinced the doctor not to give Sparrow drugs while she was in labor until she agreed to name the child after her. To Sparrow's credit, I suppose, she held out for a good 6 hours on pure spit and anger, but eventually succumbed. But with a twist. She named her baby girl Findabhair, which was the Irish version of her Mothers base name, Gwenhyvar.  
  
As it was, Finn had her grandmother's ability to scare the hell out of people as well. It was a general knowledge that no smart person crossed Finn who wanted to live.  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Atticus Thomas discovered his littlest sister standing upon her head starring into space when he came to pick her up after school one Friday afternoon.  
  
Virgina Thomas, named for the song, "Meet Virgina," by Train, was an artist and a small six year old with a rather interesting take on life. Known as Ginny, she refused to wear pants and always insisted on skirts, never dresses. She loved the children's writer Jon Scieszka, the American version of Sailor Moon and the Beatles. Virgina actually loved the Backstreet Boys to such an extent that the mere mention of Nsync would often cause her to become violently upset and so, unable to speak for up to a half hour. You knew she was really mad at you, if she called you an Nsync lover or worse yet, a N-I-N-E-T-Y- E-I-G-H-T D-E-G-R-E-E-'S fan. She was an odd duck alright, which could help explain what was happing now.  
  
Her lunch box- with a picture of the Backstreet boys on it- sat right beside her head, while her kitty knapsack was strapped to her back. She was wearing a poka-dot skirt and because her feet were up and her head down, it gave everyone a clear view of her floating clouds underwear. Her bright red pig tails lay on the concrete street, contrasting with the pink from her glass's frame. Everything, including the underwear, had splatters of paint on it. Blue, yellow, pink, purple, forest green, etc, you name a color it was probably on there.  
  
Ginny's kindergarten teacher was kneeling down besides her, trying desperately to convince the little girl to stand up. Her voice had that desperate edge voices sometimes get when you know that you have taken on a losing battle, but for appearance sake at least, you must keep trying. Many of the children were openly laughing and pointing, while their parents were quickly shushing them and shooting the strange little girl confused looks.  
  
It made for quite an interesting picture.  
  
But eventually Atticus knew he had to intervene. But he could get a photo first. The flash from the camera instantly drew the attention of Mrs. Mullins and Ginny.  
  
"Hi, Stinky."  
  
"Greetings Miss. Virgina, Queen of the Cards."  
  
"Thank Providence. YOU do SOMETHING with her," greeted Mrs. Mullins, in a typically exasperated tone. So Atticus did. He dropped his bag beside his sisters and stood on his head too. Mrs. Mullin's merely stared for a second before walking away, her shoulders slouched and shaking as though crying.  
  
"I think that I'm going to be moved again. She looks ready to crack," speculated Ginny as she idly watched her teacher walk away.  
  
"Particularly from this angle."  
  
No one spoke for a little while, instead Atticus and Ginny merely stared back at the parents who were staring at them. Eventually most parents with children in tow left.  
  
"So, why are we standing on our heads?" asked Atticus in a conversational tone.  
  
"I don't know why I am. Why are you?"  
  
"Cause you are?"  
  
"If I jumped off a cliff, you'd jump off one too?"  
  
"Without hesitation. What's the point in living if you're not?  
  
"Ice cream?"  
  
"I suppose."  
  
There was a thoughtful silence.  
  
"So, Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple," spoke Atticus.  
  
"Really? That's stupid, why'd she do that?" asked Ginny as she turned her head as much as she could toward her brother.  
  
"Probably for the same reason why you're standing on your head. You just decided to." There was another pause as Ginny thought over what her brother said.  
  
"Are you saying that Gwyneth Paltrow named her kid Apple just because she did?"  
  
"Yup, just like you standing on your head and refusing to move."  
  
"How did you know I refused to move?"  
  
"I know you."  
  
"Oh. But naming a child after a piece of fruit and standing on your head are two very different things."  
  
"How so? They were done for the same reason.  
  
"Standing on your head and a living baby are two different things. One is an action, while the other is a thing."  
  
"No, they're both actions. You stood on your head and she named her kid Apple. The kid is a kid even if her name was Pineapple or Martini Glass or Bob."  
  
"I think there is a lesson in this."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"If naming a kid Apple is the same as standing on your head, then I don't think I should be standing on my head."  
  
"Good idea. Want to go home and listen to some Backstreet Boys?"  
  
"Okay." The two shuffled to there feet and hung onto the other as the world began to spin from all the blood rushing out of their heads. Then they picked up there knapsacks and began to walk home.  
  
"Did you know, kid, that all that blood rushing to your head would eventually make it explode in a gruesome wave of grey matter?"  
  
"Really?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but it's something like that."  
  
"Hum."  
  
The two continued on carelessly.  
  
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Alright, alright! I'm sorry, Linda. It's finally up. Happy? Okay, I think we've met everyone and you've got the basic gist of their characters. I swear the next chapter will begin the plot. Review if you want, but don't bother to flame. I'll read it, dismiss it and more then likely delete it. Constructive criticism is always welcome. 


	3. The Job Offer

Thanks to those who reviewed! And I'm sorry for this chapter. I'm so sorry that it's so late and I'm so sorry it's so bad. I kept re-writing it to try and fix it, but I couldn't! And I have to keep it in there because it's important to the plot.  
  
Botswana : I read about the names in a book called, "The Hunter's Moon," by O.R. Melling.  
  
Disclaimer: Own nothing.  
  
A Job Offer:  
  
Samantha Lyon rewound the tape she was watching and laughed. The laughter rang with the malicious glee those in the business world had been taught to fear. In fact her secretary in the other room had began to automatically cringe just then at hearing it. The bugger deserved it, Sam thought as she rewound her tape of yesterday's shoe in face fiasco. Playing it through again, she paused on the face of a woman with red hair as the said woman hid behind a police officer that was shielding her from Webcor's rather excited attempts at taking the red heads life.  
  
Samantha had heard of Mac Thomas and that wasn't a very remarkable thing. Everyone who was anyone knew of Mac, specifically her influential connections with the O'Connelly clan of New York.  
  
But that wasn't what interested Sam. It was the pure audacity in which Mac had destroyed Webcor's career. Not only had she hit him in the face with her shoe on live television, exposing him for the vile creature he was, but she had made sure that Webcor would never work in politics. By the means of a mere phone call and one television interview given from her jail cell she had gained the sympathy of an entire city. All done within 24 hours of her firing. That interested Sam. Reminded her of herself. Ruthless and manipulative. She would be perfect for her son's campaign. Quickly she hit a button on her desk and in a bark demanded the number of Michaela "Mac" Thomas.  
  
--------------  
  
Mac smiled at her father as she came down the familiar stairs of her grandparent's house for breakfast. Elizabeth at 70 years old and Watson at 75 had happily offered the growing O'Connelly-Thomas family the mansion when the house on Clover Avenue became too small. Elizabeth and Watson still lived there and were happy for the company in the big house as well as the help in up keeping it.  
  
When Charlie heard the familiar clomp of feet on the stairs he looked up.  
  
"Morning. How'd you sleep?"  
  
"Good..... until 5 this morning when my phone rang."  
  
"Really? Who was it?"  
  
"Gwen."  
  
"Really? What was so important that it couldn't wait until later?"  
  
"Her favorite teacup broke." Charlie looked up from his newspaper and then looked at his daughter confused as she sort of collapsed into a seat.  
  
"What?" Mac leaned over and took her father's hand.  
  
"I'm not married Dad."  
  
"Yes, I know. But back to the phone call," said Charlie.  
  
"Dad I'm 28 and not married," continued Mac as though her father had said nothing.  
  
"Yes," answered Charlie leaning back in his seat and looking at his first born thoughtfully.

"Honey are you afraid you're not going to find someone?" he asked after a moment of silence.  
  
"No."  
  
"So Gwen phoned you up at 5 am to talk about a broken tea cup, which symbolically is representing her unhappiness that you're not married?" Admittingly it wouldn't be the first thing that someone would assume, but Charlie had not been married to Sparrow for 17 years for not.  
  
"Yes, or she's gone completely off her rocker."  
  
"I think it's rather one in the same."  
  
"Yah," agreed Mac, "and you married the younger version of her."  
  
Charlie suddenly looked mildly disturbed, yet thoughtful.  
  
At that moment, Ginny in her nightgown and wiping sleep from her eyes walked into the kitchen. Ignoring her father and sister, she walked with determination to the cabinet that stored the glasses and cups and strategically pulled out certain drawers. Testing a few to make sure they wouldn't wobble too bad, she began to climb them like stairs. Charlie quickly sprang from his seat and lifted his six year old from the draw that stored the silverware and placed her on his hip.  
  
"What are you doing Ginny?" She ignored her father and grabbed a shot glass from the shelf. Then turning to him she requested, "down please." Charlie put her down.  
  
She headed over to the fridge and took out the orange juice as well as the milk. Balancing them precariously in her arms she all but dropped it on the table beside Mac. She glared at them, took out the shot glass from her pocket, set it down precisely in the middle of a place mat and filled the glass half way with orange juice then the other half with milk. Grimacing and holding her nose she quickly downed the concoction while Mac and Charlie merely watched. Ginny did this three more times. Then putting the shot glass in the sink she shut all the drawers and walked out of the room.  
  
"Yes I did," said Charlie laughing.  
  
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Later that afternoon Mac was out walking with Atticus. The evening was cool and the breeze strong. It was nice. Neither felt the need to really speak and as such didn't. It stayed like this until the silence was broken by a limousine screeching to a halt and a very panicked looking young woman jumping out of it demanding to know which one of them was Michaela Thomas. Mac didn't answer right away. Instead she went to the limousine and opened the door, peeked inside and then slammed the door shut.  
  
"You poor girl," said Mac, with no false sympathy for the panicked woman.  
  
"Thanks," the lady answered.  
  
"What does the wildcat want?"  
  
"I don't honestly know, but I think it has something to do with the tape of you hitting Webcor with the shoe."  
  
"Really, that's interesting," Mac spoke quickly as she looked at the limousine. Then abruptly turning she looked at her brother. "Alright, Atticus could you take this brave young woman back home and I'll meet you there in about half and hour?"  
  
"Sure." Without a second glance Mac opened the door of the limo and sat down across from the woman, whose nickname of the wildcat had been well earned.  
  
--------------  
  
Mac's POV  
  
I stared at the well-dressed woman in front of me and couldn't for the life of me understand why she was here. It was completely out of character for the businesswoman. People came to Samantha Lyon; Samantha Lyon did not come to them.  
  
"Good evening," I said cautiously.  
  
"Good evening, Miss. Thomas, or would you prefer I call you that ridiculous nickname of Mac?"  
  
"Either is fine."  
  
"Mac then, I have no doubt you are wondering why I am here. Particularly with our family histories." The O'Connelly and Lyon families were known to be bitter enemies. "But I have come to offer you a job." Well I most certainly wasn't expecting that. "Okay. No thanks."  
  
"I think you're smart and I need your help on something." Yes and I was the tooth fairy.  
  
"Look, Mrs. Lyon, I don't think that is a good idea," I began, completely intending to take her down a peg or two. Clearly this was some attempt on her part to screw with the O'Connelly's.  
  
"Why ever not?" she interrupted me. Strangely from her body language, I felt she was being entirely serious. "Ah, you are concerned this is a tactic of mine to destroy the O'Connelly family, something I have been trying to do since I owned my first newspaper." I didn't answer. My silence was enough to make the answer perfectly clear.  
  
"Well to that, I'd have to say you're not an O'Connelly. You are only the stepdaughter of Sparrow O'Connelly."  
  
"True, but I am still deeply tied to the O'Connelly clan."  
  
"Maybe to you, but not to me. And quite frankly it's my opinion that counts." I merely raised an eyebrow at her to that statement. She ignored me. "My foolish son has decided to run for the mayor of New York now that you're former boss has dropped out. I want you to run the campaign." I tried to hide my disbelief at this statement, but I don't think I did a very good job.  
  
"Why?" I asked.  
  
"You're little stunt with Webcor impressed me. Very manipulative and without mercy, something my son is not, but desperately needs to be to win this." I'll admit I was interested. But the reality was, I really couldn't, it would be suicidal for my career. Gwen would disown me and thus so would the rest of the O'Connelly's as well and there would go all my connections. However, while I was thinking this, a nasty little voice in the back of my head began to mutter about Gwen being the same woman who phoned me at 5 in the morning and suddenly upsetting Gwen mattered a little less. But that still didn't mean I felt the same way about the rest of the O'Connelly's. And still like sheep they would follow Gwen's lead and disown me as well. As I was thinking this over, Mrs. Lyon merely sat patiently.  
  
"My dear," she said breaking my silent debate in my head, "think of the opportunity this could provide you and not to mention the very generous salary I would be willing to pay."  
  
"How much?" I couldn't help myself.  
  
"Triple what you made with Webcor." My eyes lit up. You know, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Perhaps I could bring the two families together..... and then suddenly a picture of Sparrow sprang into my head. I felt immediate guilt.  
  
"Look, Mrs. Lyon I can't."  
  
"Well I'll let you think about it and I would highly suggest you talk it over with Sparrow. You may be surprised how she'll react. Now where is my assistant?"  
  
"At home."  
  
"Stupid girl."  
  
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Next chapter should be out soon. Start expecting more frequent updates because I'm out of school now.


	4. A New Job

Disclaimer: Own nothing  
  
Blah  
  
Ginny was fascinated. She had never seen that much white on a car before. She was so entranced, that she didn't notice her sister or the scary lady get out of the car and head into the house. All she saw was the white, all she felt was the paint brush in her hand and all she could image was the many pretty colors.  
  
Samantha smiled as she caught a glimpse of a girl she had come to know very well. She was happy to note that not much had changed over the years. Sparrow still appeared to be as scattered as always.  
  
"SAMANTHA!"  
  
"Hello Sparrow."  
  
"What are you doing with my stepdaughter?"  
  
"I have come to offer a job working for my son's campaign."  
  
"Really," said Sparrow as she put her drink down on the counter and leaned against it. "What did you say?' The last question was directed at Mac.  
  
"I said no. I didn't think the O'Connelly's would be too happy if I did." Sparrow looked confused for a moment.  
  
"The feud!"  
  
"Right."  
  
"Now that that's cleared up, I have told your stepdaughter to think about my offer and to talk to you. I have to leave now. Where is my assistant?"  
  
"I do believe Atticus may be getting her mercifully drunk." Samantha quit trying to put on her gloves and shot an annoyed look at Sparrow.  
  
"Oh they don't make assistants like they use to. Now a day they seem to think they deserve respect for what they do."  
  
"Them crazy kids."  
  
"Hum. STEPHANIE LET'S GO PLEASE!" In an instant the door to the living room flung open and out raced Stephanie still holding a martini glass and looking frazzled.  
  
"Right away ma'am!" All but sprinting to the door of the limo, she opened the passenger door and waited.  
  
"Good evening."  
  
"Goodbye Samantha." The two women watched the wildcat as she calmly sat in the limo. A second later, almost before Staphanie could get in, it tore away from the curb. Ginny with a raised paintbrush and looking very surprised was revealed.  
  
"Where did it go?" said Ginny looking very annoyed. "I didn't get to finish the afro!"  
  
----------------  
  
Later that night, after Ginny had been put to bed, Mac sat across her stepmother in the living room prepared to ask some questions.  
  
"Sparrow?"  
  
"Yes?" said Sparrow as she looked up from her newspaper.  
  
"How do you know Samantha Lyon?"  
  
"Everyone knows Samantha Lyon who works in New York as the head of something."  
  
"But on such friendly terms? Particularly for an O'Connelly? Who have been feuding with the other since 1914?"  
  
"You just hit the nose on the button. Take the job, Mac."  
  
"I can't. I'll lose all my connections and everyone will be mad at me."  
  
"No you won't and no they won't."  
  
"Yes I will and yes they will."  
  
"Then work around it."  
  
"I suppose I could."  
  
"Of course you can, you have no choice but to. You have no job and no prospects for others."  
  
"Oh yeah."  
  
"Hum." 


	5. Earnest Lyon

Thanks to my reviewer!  
  
Disclaimer: Own nothing.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Earnest Lyon, that's Lyon like the animal lion.  
  
Mac wore her most professional suit five two days later and stood in the front of Lyon Campaign headquarters-a store that no one had been able to have a successful business in. Mac hoped it wasn't an omen. Samantha Lyon was right beside her.  
  
"Well this is it," her tone of voice was disgusted. "My son, who I thought I had raised to have better taste then this insisted upon it, thought the place had charm or some rubbish like that. Obviously he was wrong. I hope you can correct that mistake." Mac merely smiled down at her. "Yes, I thought so," said Samantha turning back to stare quite evilly at the building. "Well I can't stand looking at it any longer, let's get inside were hopefully the tacky use of columns is not made a theme throughout. But somehow I doubt it," and with that the two woman headed into the building.  
  
The place was tragically lacking in people. Which made their sudden direction changes upon seeing Sam, just that more obvious. A man who was slightly balding and just heading out the door the two women walked in actually recoiled from them.  
  
"Good morning Mrs. Lyon!" he greeted, his voice unusually high.  
  
"It would seem not to your staff," said Sam, nodding her head as the various people who were scrambling to get into a single office.  
  
"Oh, yes, hum. Well there just....er.... well I think it's always lovely to see you, Mrs. Lyon!"  
  
"Not always, Mr. White and now might be one of those times if you don't tell me were he is," hissed Samantha as she slowly backed the man into the corner. Mr. White had gone white in the face and if Mac wasn't mistaken seemed to be trembling ever so slightly.  
  
"Yes, yes, he's in the back."  
  
"Thank you. By the way this is your new Campaign manager, Micheala Thomas." The jittery man did a double take and then visibly began to start sweating.  
  
"How wonderful! Did um, purely out of curiosity of course, did um, did you, get this okayed by your son?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh." Suddenly Mr. White looked like he wanted to cry. "Well welcome to the staff Miss. Thomas, God help your soul cause he certainly isn't helping mine." Nodding at Mac with a sad sort of smile Mr. White shuffled with a defeated look out the door.  
  
"I would fire that man if he wasn't such a political expert." Mac just wisely said nothing and kept smiling. Soon they arrived at a door. Samantha did not knock.  
  
They arrived at a door. Samantha did not knock.

They walked into an office that was cramped, without a window and an interesting color of puke green. Sitting in the middle of this was Samantha Lyon's son, or so Mac assumed. He was wearing a horrible purple tie that clashed with his surroundings, a suit of a particularly interesting color of blue and a scowl on his oval face. He was easily over 6 feet tall and annoyed. He had brown hair. Classical music could be heard playing in the background. He didn't look up as they walked into the room.  
  
"Hello, Mother," he said, "from your footsteps, I hear you brought a friend." The most intense brown eyes looked up at Mac in annoyance.  
  
"Yes, she did," spoke Mac glaring back completely unimpressed.  
  
--------  
  
Atticus Thomas quickly looked down at the book he had randomly taken off the library self at school. Quickly opening it, he began to hastily read a passage feigning a look of interest over what he was reading.  
  
The Peacock when trying to find a mate struts across....  
  
Atticus slowly looked up from his reading and saw the eyes of Tonya Black looking right at him. Startling he returned to his book. He looked up slowly again, she was still watching. The third time he looked up though, she was gone. Randomly placing the book back on the shelf, Atticus slowly began wondering up the isle. As he turned the corner he came upon the apple of his eye, Tonya. She was glaring.  
  
"Why are you following me?" Atticus sputtered.  
  
"Everywhere I've turned for the past week and a half there you are." Atticus began to slowly back away.  
  
"Well!?" Atticus found himself backed against a wall and unable to escape.  
  
"I er.. was wondering...." SMACK. WHAP! Atticus was unconscious before he even knew what was happening.  
  
-----------  
  
"Earnest, I would like you to meet your new Campaign Manager, Micheala Thomas." Earnest Lyon, youngest son of Samantha and George Lyon turned his glaring eyes on his mother.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Earnest don't get all dramatic. You need someone to lead your campaign and I have found you someone suitable. I will not ask you to thank me, but I will warn you now that if you do not follow her advice I will cut you off and gut you like a fish." With a swish of her coat Samantha dramatically turned on her heel and walked out the door. Mac took a seat.  
  
"So, shall we get started?" asked Mac calmly. Earnest's blazing eyes turned to her. His whole body reeked of his fury as he desperately tried to suppress it, his whole very large and powerful body. He opened his mouth. "And don't look at me like that. You aren't scaring me, not even a little," interrupted Mac before Earnest had even began.  
  
"I'm trying not to scare Miz. Thomas, but I must make it very clear that I do not want you here and I request that you leave." He spoke very clearly and calmly with a look on his face showing anything but that he actually was.  
  
Mac laughed in his face.  
  
"No. I need this job and I have already burnt enough bridges that I can't just leave. Besides you need my help," she said after she quit laughing.  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"Yes, yes, you do."  
  
"No, no, I don't."  
  
"Look we can do this all day, I don't care but," began Mac leaning foreword in her chair and speaking in a calm voice, "by the end of it, I will still be here."  
  
"Not if I don't want you to be."  
  
"True. But am I worth you losing 3.6 million dollars as well as all funding for this little campaign that will fail?" Earnest studied her.  
  
"Why are you so sure it's going to fail?"  
  
"You have absolutely nothing going for you except the fact that you are breathing."  
  
"Really."  
  
"Yup, even your name is against you." Earnest sat down and leaned back in his seat. Mac was impressed, she had expected to have to argue with the guy for at least another hour.  
  
"You look familiar."  
  
"Do I? Look, I'm not your enemy. I'm stuck with you, you're stuck with me and quite frankly I think I got the worst end of this bargain." Earnest looked mildly insulted, but before he could speak, Mac continued, "Look I need a job and you need help. Let us leave everything else at the door and save a lot of time and effort and just accept the situation. Once that's done all we have to do is win a campaign you can't possibly win."  
  
"Where the hell did my mother find you?"  
  
"Jail. Now about your name."  
  
"What about my name?"  
  
"Well it's very bad."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"And since we're on the issue of bad things, so is your headquarters, dressing style and everything about you politically." Earnest merely looked at her like she was crazy. A look Mac had received many times while in the company of an O'Connelly and her Aunt Karen and thus she merely ignored it. "Now are you married?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're just trying to make this as difficult as possible aren't you?" Mac got that are you nuts look again. "By the way, call me Mac."  
  
--------  
  
"Addie, Atticus, ATTICUS!" The boy in the bold print very groggily began to open his eyes. Before he could get them fully open though, he felt a sharp slap across his face.  
  
"OW! FINN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"  
  
"WAKING YOU UP YOU MORON! You might have a concussion you know and DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT ME!" It was only then that Atticus realized he was on the floor of the library and there was a throbbing in his head that felt like it was trying to beat it's way of his skull.  
  
"What the hell happened?"  
  
"You got beat up by a door and a girl. Though mind you that girl had a text book in her hand."  
  
"I did." Suddenly the memories of what had transpired before it had gone all dark came back to him.  
  
"Yup, looks like Tonya cornered you right in front of the door. Mrs. Saunders opened it and smacked you right in the back of the head. Anyway, you understandably stumbled a bit. Tonya freaked out and instinctively clobbered you with a textbook, thinking you were attacking her, since you seem to have been stalking her for the last week and a half you CREEP."  
  
"Ow."  
  
"Yah, I bet. Dad's on his way, Mrs. Saunders went to get him."  
  
"Ow."  
  
"I should think so."  
  
------


	6. Conversation

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Chapter 6

Thanks to those who reviewed.

RikaTabithaStarr: Have some romantic involvement, yes. Married? You'll have to see.

Stariegirl: Thanks a lot!

The Blowout

When finding out that her granddaughter was working under a Lyon, Gwen O'Connelly immediately went to put a stop to it. She had never been so mad at anyone before, not even Sparrow, except for maybe that one time. Glaring at the building even worse then Samantha could, she stormed it. The door slamming into wall caused everyone in the building to turn.

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY GRANDDAUGHTER!?" No one said anything. "WELL?" A quivering man came foreword.

"Who might your granddaughter be?" Gwen eyed him as though dirt. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"No, ma'am, should I?" Wrong thing to say. Gwen's eyes actually seemed to glow in anger at the man, who very wisely ran away.

"MICHEALA NORA THOMAS, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU IN THIS FESTERING PIT OF IDIOCY!?" Mac quickly came running out of the back office with Earnest not far behind her.

"Gwen what are you doing?" asked Mac nervously. She had never seen Gwen so upset.

"WHAT AM I DOING? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Working?" answered Mac taking a step back from her enraged grandma.

"FOR A LYON!"

"Er...." replied Mac.

"Does Sparrow know about this?" asked Gwen in a quiet powerful whisper.

"Yes." Gwen turned on her heel and marched toward the exit. When she got to the door she turned around and faced Mac.

"You're dead to me, you and your entire family." Gwen walked out of the building the way she entered, slamming the door.

"And I thought my Mother was bad," said Earnest looking at Mac with a newfound respect. She just gave him a small smile before dialing in her Stepmother's number.

"You have incoming," was all she said before hanging up.

----------------------------------------

"WHAT HAVE YOU ALLOWED TO HAPPEN?" was the greeting Sparrow received a few hours later.

"My mother getting through the door?"

"Do not get pert with me right now Sparrow. NOW ANSWER ME! What have you allowed to happen," hissed Gwen right in her daughter's face. Sparrow's temper flared into life.

"Unlike you, you delusional old woman, I am not manipulating my children's lives to please me."

"So that's it. You're allowing your daughter to sell herself to the Lyon's to screw me over."

"You have nothing to do with this. She needed a job after the idiot Webcor you hoisted on her and this is a great opportunity for her.

"At least he was respectable!"

"What the hell is so wrong again with the Lyon's?"

"They are a vile, vile family."

"No worse then you."

"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO A LYON!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAVEN'T DARED FOR THIS LONG!" Gwen looked taken back. "You have been driving me crazy since my birth. You manipulate and you manipulate so that everything fits this crackpot ideal you have of what is the right way to live. WELL, I REFUSE TO LET YOU DO THAT TO MAC OR ANYONE IN MY FAMILY.

"I DO NO SUCH THING!"

"QUIT LYING TO YOURSELF MOTHER!"

"I AM NOT LYING! YOU'RE AN IDIOT SPARROW, THAT IS SUDDENLY BEING MADE ALL THAT MUCH MORE CLEAR TO ME. THAT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION AS TO WHY YOU MADE FRIENDS WITH THAT SAMANTHA WOMAN WHEN YOU WERE 18, EVEN WHEN EVERYONE TOLD YOU HOW VILE THAT FAMILY WAS AND NOW YOUR LETTING HER TAKE AWAY YOUR CHILD! Listen to me Sparrow, you are being blinded by your anger at me and Mac is going to pay the price for it!"

"And what price is that mother? Her soul?"

"Yes and something more important. Her family. I cannot, I will not have anything to do with that family and if that means cutting ties with you and Mac, I will. It'll break my heart but I will and where I lead the clan will follow."

"I wouldn't be quite so sure about that."

"Yes, I can be Sparrow." There was a long pause. "It's times like now I'm glad your father passed all those years ago. He would have been so ashamed of you right now."

"I don't think I'd be the one he would be ashamed of.

"We are done," whispered Gwen walking out the door.

"Good."

The door slammed.

--------------

Later that night, Mac phoned home to see what had happened. After finding out the gist from her father, she asked to speak to Sparrow.

"Well that went well." Sparrow began to laugh until tear were running down her cheeks. Mac continued though on a more serious note. "I'm sorry Sparrow."

"Oh kid, there's nothing for you to be sorry for. My mother and I, as you well know, have never got along."

"But to that extent?"

"You should have seen us when we lived in the same house. The only thing that stopped us from going to blows was my father and Raven."

"I had no idea."

"Haven't you heard the stories from your uncles?"

"I thought they were lying. You guys seemed to generally love the other even if you were bitterly complaining about the other."

"Yah, we called a truce at my Dad's funeral and I also moved out, which helped the situation. But before that things were less then great. At its height, I met Samantha.

"Really?"

"My mother use to complain about the Lyons all the time and so I decided to see for myself what they were complaining about, so I got a job working for Samantha. That was the first time my mother disowned me. It was good times."

"How did you make up?"

"My father died, we called a truce."

"Oh."

"But anyway, enough about the O'Connelly's how's work going?"

"I am slowly beginning to make him crack. This coming "Talk to the Candidates" should bring him around to my way of thinking."

"I have no doubt it will."

"Oh it will and I plan on enjoying it."

End of chapter.

------------------


	7. That Ginny Thomas

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Chapter 7

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

_That Ginny Thomas_

Ginny sat in a tense silence with a bucket of water in the dark closet.

She could hear faintly amid the dresses and blouses, The Duchess of Death, Destruction and Baths singing along with the radio.

The terrible singing became clearer as the double D Duchess danced her horrible dance closer to Ginny in her hiding place.

"_Now, I had the time of my lifee!!!!" _Poor Ginny began to whimper in pain as now only the thin closet door and one ugly pantsuit number separated her from the horrible singing. Despite the pain though, the valiant little girl got into position. Muttering a prayer, she waited for the doors to open.

They slowly opened a moment later and Ginny struck without hesitation. She swung that heavy bucket like a pro and nailed the Duchess, otherwise known as Finn, right in the chest before dumping the whole contents onto her. Then she did the very brave thing and ran like hell.

"AHHHHHHHH! YOU STUPID BRAT!" screamed Finn as she went pelting after her sister down the stairs into the kitchen. "I'M GOING TO GUT YOU LIKE A FISH AND SELL YOU TO THE MEAT MARKET!" Ginny's reaction to that?

"By the father, the son and the holy ghost I cast you from this place back to hell of which you dwell!" screamed Ginny as she pulled out the cross in her pocket and hurtled it at her sister, nailing her in the head.

"OW!" Finn roared grabbing a wooden spoon and lunging over the kitchen table that separated her from her sister. Ginny frantically began pulling out draws and climbing them in the kitchen cabinet.

"MOMMY! ADDIE! DADDY!" she cried.

"You call for them you little minx and you tell them what you did!" while hollering this Finn got a taste of the water. She made a horrible face. "Did you pee in this water!?" Ginny's sudden increase in frantic climbing was answer enough. Lucky for both girls, who if Finn had got to Ginny would have resulted in a dead Ginny and a murderer Finn, Sparrow came racing into the room. Immediately seeing the situation she hauled her youngest daughter off the cabinet and screamed at Finn to put the wooden spoon down. Reluctantly, Finn did.

"Now, what the heck is going on here?" asked Sparrow as she set Ginny on the floor again.

"MOMMMYYY! YOU HAVE TO PROTECT ME FROM THE DUCHESS OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION AND BATHS! SHE DIDN'T MELT WHEN I THREW WATER ON HER!" cried Ginny grabbing her mother's leg and closing her eyes.

"Not this again."

"Mom, you have to stop her from doing this! She actually peed in the water this time!"

"VIRGINIA THOMAS IS THAT TRUE?"

Suddenly the little girl's eyes sprung open.

"WAIT! YOU SPAWNED HER! AHH!" Ginny yelled springing away from her mother in horror and slamming into the wall. She lay stunned on the floor for a second before jumping back up and continuing to scream out the door.

"I have to start watching that kids sugar intake." Finn merely glowered before slinking away to take another shower. She took the wooden spoon with her.

"On second thought, were is that number for that child psychologist?" muttered Sparrow

* * *

People were stupid.

Raven had come to this conclusion long ago.

They were the bane of his existence.

Therefore he tried to cut as many dumb people out of his life and keep as many somewhat intelligent people in it as possible. His father for example had been an intelligent person. All his brothers but one had been and still were. Lark was a good example of an idiot, Oriole another one. He wasn't sure about Sparrow yet, nor that youngest daughter of hers. But Mac he was sure of because from the moment he had been introduced to the girl by Sparrow he had known, he had seen the intelligence in her eyes. Therefore he kept a close eye on her progress through life and often helped her when he could.

When she had become a lawyer, he had been delighted and as soon as she graduated had offered her a spot at his law firm. Though she declined, he hadn't been upset, merely looking foreword to see what she was going to do. He had been delighted when she got into politics. Which made his Mother's sudden exile of her from the O'Connelly clan very vexing. He entirely blamed it on his sister and his mother. It was over the same stupid things as always. Neither could get along and each dragged everyone around them into the fight.

Normally he wouldn't care all that much if Sparrow had been disowned, but this time it directly effected Mac. And because of that he for the first time was taking a side against his mother, who he had wisely, like with anybody who had a lick of sense, (which was why he wondered about Sparrow), knew to be cautious with.

He arrived at his mother's apartment to see Oriole fluttering about her. His mother, he noted, was lapping it up. She was still dressed in her nightgown and her hair was in curlers.

"Oh how they betrayed me! How could the little ingrates dare?"

"Hello Mom." Gwen turned and looked at him oddly.

"What's with that look on your face?" she asked.

"What have you and Sparrow done this time?" His mother's stare sharpened.

"What do you mean?"

"What are you fighting about now?" his tone was defensive and intimating as hell. Unfortunately the intimidation was ineffective on his mother, whom he had learned it from.

"Your sister has turned on us. She's let Mac take a job working under a Lyon." Raven was conflicted. While angry for Mac he was now also mad at Mac. He disliked the Lyon's like any proper O'Connelly, but still Mac probably had a good reason for this betrayal. "Promise me Raven," said Gwen interrupting her son's thoughts, "promise me you will have nothing to do with Sparrow or Mac."

"No," and he calmly left the apartment to his mother's hysterical screaming.

* * *

Mac much like her sister in the beginning of this chapter sat sitting and waiting. Though she wasn't in a closet she was in an office about that size. In her hand was a newspaper of which she was reading and laughing at every now and then. The door opened and Earnest, looking both angry and sheepish walked in.

"Alright," he said sitting, "I need your help." Mac merely kept reading her newspaper while sitting in Earnest's chair, forcing Earnest to sit down in the chair normally reserved for guests. After a few seconds and not breaking her gaze from the newspaper, she read out loud,

"Mr. Lyon, though seemingly well intentioned, lacks direction and as is such came off the worst after last nights "Meet the Candidate's." That was the nicest comment you got Earnest."

"Yes, I know."

"So, you have a little problem."

"Please don't make me beg."

"See Earnest if you had been co-operative from the beginning you would know that that's not going to happen."

"I see."

"Clearly you don't."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"It means that you have no idea what you are getting yourself into."

"No I don't."

"That's the best thing you've ever said to me Earnest."

"Will you help me now?" Sparrow folded the paper and eyed Earnest.

"Will you promise to do everything I say?"

"I'll take everything you say under advisement."

"Not good enough."

"Fine."

"Fine what Earnest?"

"Fine, I'll do whatever you say."

"Good."

"Now, we have to chance your name."

"What! Why?"

"Earnest Lyon? It kind a gives the wrong kind of imagery."

"Well, what do you propose?"

"Ernie."

"Never."

"What did we just talk about five seconds ago?"

"No name change. I will agree to everything else."

"Well how can I trust you? You just broke your word Ernie!"

"I need to phone my mother."

* * *

Atticus, like usual, went to pick up his little sister after school. He found her sitting away from the other kids drawing on a math worksheet.

"Hey, Queen of the Cards!" Ginny looked up smiling. Quickly throwing her worksheet and pencil into her back, she tore away from the step and jumped into Atticus's waiting arms.

"Hey stinky." Addie smiled at her and set her down.

"So, what happened at school today?" asked Atticus taking Ginny's hand.

"Nothing worth remembering."

"How unfortunate."

"I guess."

"Listen, Ginny, I need to talk to you about something."

"What about?" asked Ginny looking down at her feet trying to miss cracks in the sidewalk.

"You really need to quit trying to exorcism Finn. She may kill you soon."

"All the more reason to keep it up!" Atticus was about to explain that no in fact that wasn't a reason to keep it up and that Finn wasn't the spawn of Satan come to lure everyone to hell when he ran into someone he would have rather not.

"Hi, Tonya."

"Hi Atticus."

"Who's this?"

"This is my little sister," he said while discretely trying to shove Ginny behind him for everyone's protections.

"Oh she's adorable!" Ginny looked up at Tonya as though she was crazy.

"Ah-ha," said Atticus about this dangerous conversation topic. Ginny didn't take being insulted very well.

"So, anybody been stocking you lately?" asked Ginny innocently. Atticus glared at his sister.

"Er, not that I know about."

"Oh, good!" said Ginny to Tonya and then loudly whispered to Atticus, "see Addie you don't have any competition! Ask her out now!" Atticus's face turned as red as Rudolph's nose. Tonya merely laughed and winked at Atticus before beginning to walk away.

"See you around Addie and sorry about the text booking beating thing."

"Yah, sorry about that whole stocking thing!"

"You know you should have just asked me Atticus. Who knows what I would have said!" She waved and turned a corner.

"Well that was strange."

"I'd say, who would wear bowling shoes outside of a bowling alley?" Atticus looked at his sister and smiled.

"Come on I have to talk to Finn."

"Why do you have to talk to the double D Duchess?"

"You know you really have to quit calling her that in public. It gives people the wrong idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Ask Mom."

End of chapter.

Thanks to my two reviewers, stargirlie and S!


	8. It Went Bump In the Night

Disclaimer: Own nothing 

Chapter 8

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

It Went Bump In the Night. 

Author's Notes: See at end of chapter.

Charlie groggily reached for his wife-only to grasp at empty air. Startled, he immediately woke and checked the time. It was 4:00 am or so the alarm clock said in that eye irritating red. With a groan he hoisted himself out of the nice warm blankets and shivered slightly as his now exposed chest felt the chill in the autumn night air. After throwing on a T-shirt he went in search of his wife.

Sparrow had never been much of a cook. It required far more organization then she was capable of. And there was that small thing that fire had a tendency to try and burn down buildings when she was around. Still, despite this, every month or so she defied common sense and tried to cook something. This month it was cookies. And this is what Charlie found his wife doing at 3 in the morning.

"Are you trying to kill us in are sleep?" Charlie asked standing right behind his wife. Sparrow jumped five feet in the air with a mixing bowl in her arms and turned around.

"What do you want Chocolate Chip or Monster Mash?" she asked stirring some strange black colored gloop."

"Er, chocolate chip?" answered Charlie figuring that may be the safer of the two since he had never heard of Monster Mash.

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Okay." Sparrow dumped the package of chocolate chips over the bowl. Three single chips fell out. "Oh well, I suppose they'll just be chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips," she said cheerfully before bursting into tears and dropping the mixing bowl with its gooey content on the floor.

"Sparrow?!"

She launching herself at Charlie, who wasn't expecting it. They landed on the floor in a heap; a position they had found themselves in many times before, but never seemed less painful with each fall.

"Oh, everything I do is wrong! Why can't I be graceful like that graceful girl, Princess Grace who died in a blazing car crash over a cliff in tragedy!" Sparrow continued to holler in misery as she unsteadily got to her feet. Charlie still lay on the ground trying to get his wind back and trying not to laugh.

"Sparrow," he whizzed while trying to get up, "are you pregnant again?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Why do you ask? Am I getting fat or something? I am aren't I?!" Sparrow began sobbing into Charlie's chest.

"No, no, you're not getting fat Sparrow," reassured Charlie patting his wife's back. "You're just acting a lot like you were when you were pregnant with Ginny. It was like you were drunk for a month remember?" he asked kindly. "Wait," Charlie said dropping the kindly voice for a more serious one. "Sparrow have you been drinking?"

"Yes."

"So you were cooking and drinking."

"Yes."

"Are you sure you weren't trying to kill us?"

"Yes."

"Okay. That's good to know."

"I suppose it would be." And Sparrow passed out. Charlie -like he always- did caught her before she hit the ground and hurt herself.

----------------

"MICHEALA!"

"GIVE ME A SECOND. I'M ON THE PHONE WITH YOUR MOTHER!"

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT? GET IN HERE!"

"Well that didn't work," Mac sighed as she sat on someone's overflowing desk looking through a file-consequently with no phone in sight.

"I told you it wouldn't," answered Melissa, a volunteer that ran errands for those working on the campaign. The funny thing about Melissa was that despite passionately supporting Earnest, she was also absolutely passionately terrified of the candidate. At the moment she was adding sugar to a cup of coffee meant for Earnest and she was taking an extremely long time about it.

"You know, I'm rethinking that offer to take him his coffee," said Mac calmly as she reopened the file in her hands.

"MICHEALA!" Mac merely rolled her eyes and headed to the back office, the domain of Earnest, grabbing the cup of coffee from a grateful Melissa as she went. Her pace was deliberately slow and her nerves calm.

The relationship between Earnest Lyon and Mac Thomas had improved, I suppose. Earnest had finally given some control of the campaign to Mac, but questioned and complained about everything she did-often at the top of his lungs. Still, mused Mac, it was better then working with Webcor- who was just a plain idiot.

There was one thing, however, that really annoyed Mac more then anything Webcor had done. Earnest's refusal to change his name.

"Call me Mac and what is it?" Earnest about to say something stopped and looked at his Campaign Manager sharply.

"Why is it that you are harping about changing my name when you yourself can't stand it when I change yours?" he asked leaning back in his chair with a smirk on his face.

"I'm not running for Mayor and my name isn't Earnest Lyon," she answered with out skipping a beat putting the coffee down in front of him. "Now, what are you yelling at me for?" He said nothing for a moment-just continued looking at her in what Mac had termed his, "Figuring Your Angle Out" look.

"I'll make you a deal Micheala, since you like them so much, I will seriously consider the name change if you quit harping about this Mac business.

"Do you really hate Mac that much?"

"I don't think it's appropriate to call you that. It assumes a close relationship when there isn't one."

"I see."

"Do you take me up on my offer Miz. Thomas?"

"No." Earnest looked up surprised; he hadn't been expecting that. Despite spending most of his time yelling at people- he still managed to understand them very well. This he knew was not characteristic of his manipulative, do what you have to, to win campaign manager.

"Why not?"

"Because I like being Mac and I still get paid even if you lose this election." Mac had always found it best to be frank with Earnest- who was absolutely glaring at her.

"Why are you Mac and not Mic?

"I don't like the name Mic."

"Sort of like I don't like the name Ernie?"

"Sure, but my name isn't Earnest Lyon and again nor am I running for the Mayor of New York. I have the luxury to change my name to my tastes."

"People will not base their vote merely because of a name."

"No, but it will play a factor," said Mac decisively. "And quite frankly you need all the help you can get." Earnest was silent for a moment.

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"Tell me how it affects people's choices?" Earnest demanded.

"Earnest sounds rich and snobby, which means you have no idea what reality is like for everyday people. There are a lot of everyday people in the world. There are also a lot of everyday people who vote." She paused for a second before continuing. "Earnest, that actual meaning of the word means serious and sincere. That makes you sound foolish- which you are, it also makes you seem rigid in your beliefs- which again you also are."

"Excuse-"

"And then we have Lyon like the animal," cut in Mac, "which matched with Earnest turns you into a character in a children's book."

"That's-"

"Then there is the most damning thing of all, the Samantha Lyon connection. The woman so fondly known to the people of New York as the woman who tried to have Central Park privatized for the wealthy," continued Mac, once again cutting off her boss. After speaking her piece she was silent for a moment. "People like real people. You are not real with the name Earnest Lyon. You are old, you are stuffy, you are naïve to the plights of the common man and then you are a character in a child's book with Samantha Lyon as your mother."

There was a very pregnant silence.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Mac rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"How about we change the subject."

"Yes," about this next tour stop..."

"What about it?" Mac asked tiredly.

"Why is it relevant for me to go talk to a bunch of greedy, old men at a country club?"

"Because you are running for the Mayor of New York."

"That excuse is getting old," Earnest warned. He hoisted his large bulk out of his chair and stood menacingly in front of Mac.

"Well, it's better then because I say so and we need their money, which is quite frankly the real reasons why," Mac stated clearly looking the possible Mayor right in the eye.

Samantha Lyon walked into the office at that point.

"So, how are things going?" she asked sitting down in Earnest's chair behind the desk completely ignoring the obvious fighting stances of the other two in the room.

"Hello Mother."

"Hello Mrs. Lyon. Things are progressing."

"What does that mean?"

Our couple was saved from having to answer that question by someone else walking into the room. Unfortunately it was Gwen.

And then things really did begin to progress.....out of control.

-----------------------------------

Ginny was ecstatic! It was raining! She loved the rain just like Atticus did! And that meant they got to run home without a raincoat or umbrella- splashing in as many puddles as possible. Ginny smiled with anticipation and restlessly continued to look out the window of her classroom waiting for her brother. A few minutes later a car pulled up. Out of it came both Atticus and her mother to Ginny's disappointment. They rushed into the classroom and began walking over to her-only to have Mrs. Mullin's intercept Sparrow with a pinched look on her face.

"Oh dear," Addie said quietly. Sparrow, who was still very hung over from this morning, looked even more pained as Mrs. Mullin's led her over to a desk. "What did you do this time Queen of the Cards?"

"I expressed myself." Atticus muttered something under his breath before asking,

"How exactly did you express yourself?"

"I took off all my clothes and showed how Macbeth died using a ruler and Fred the hamster." Addie looked at his little sister and cringed.

"Kid, I think we need to have another talk.

"When?"

"We might as well have it now since I'm pretty sure Mom is going to be a little while."

"Alright!"

Sparrow's headache now felt like her heart was beating in her brain. After finally getting out of Mullin's clutches she merely dragged Ginny to the car and as they drove away assured Ginny she was in for a serious talk later that night when Mommy wasn't hung over. The ride home had been silent after that. Ginny was fuming in the back seat quietly- about the only things she did quietly. Sparrow had her eyes closed and was leaning against the headrest trying not to breathe because even that was too loud and Atticus was concentrating on his driving. He didn't like driving in the rain. The roads became slick and with his inherited mother's reflexes, that made him nervous.

As he slowly moved through an intersection a car suddenly came out of nowhere. He ran the light and smashed into them sending them spinning over the slick road.

Author notes (you just don't know where I'm going to stick them).

I'M SORRY! ALL YOU NICE PEOPLE REVIEWED AND THEN I LEFT YOU HANGING FOR SO LONG! I had this chapter done but had to completely re-write it because it sucked. And then I couldn't get to it because of school and my typical procrastinating nature. So again, I'm sorry. And I swear the next chapter won't take so long.

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review and I'm not complaining! You've been my most faithful reviewer!

RikaTabithaStarr: Thanks also for the review and you have no idea how complicated the O'Connelly family is going to become.

Awesome Sauce- Forgive me for not doing the weird things around your name-I'm not that talented with computers! Thanks for your nice review. Like you, I am somewhere in the teen years, though I do have the maturity level of a second grader. I live in North America and have a tendency to leave everything to the last minute. I like Harry Potter fanfic as well and you can see my first (and last) miserable attempt at it on my profile page. I also love romance novels and that is why most of my fics are so filled with corny fluff scenes. I love wacky characters (Luna forever!) and try to stuff as many as I can into a story. Anyway, I think I have rambled on enough in my typical fashion and I hope you keep reading and enjoy!


	9. Of Wicked Witches

Disclaimer: Own nothing, including the Wicked Witch, Winnie the Pooh and co, the Beatles music or the Backstreet Boys music or Bob Dylan's music. 

Chapter 9 

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted 

A chapter entitled:

Of Wicked Witches 

Author's Note: Ginny's view of the Wicked Witch of the West was inspired and slightly borrowed from the Musical "Wicked." Also, the song mentioned in this chapter is Hurricane, by Bob Dylan, I highly recommend you listen to it if you haven't.

See Review Responses at the bottom of page.

Charlie always considered himself to be a calm, rational person.... Expect when it came to family. When Jenn- his first wife- had been in a car accident, he had driven to the hospital like a mad person. His rational, calm self had left him as Jenn would later that night. So, when he got another phone call from the hospital saying that his second wife had been in a car accident -with two of his children involved, Charlie found himself doing the exact same things. He panicked, he prayed and he ran like hell for his car.

---

A familiar little girl dressed in a poodle skirt with pink framed glasses looked up at the star filled sky. Ginny Thomas wondered if she had reached Heaven. Breathing deeply and exhaling; her breath came out in puffs from the cold. It was all silent, which made the cackle all that more audible. Ginny slowly turned her head to the sound. Standing right beside her was a woman with green skin and a broomstick.

"I knew you were the good one!"

The Wicked Witch of the West smiled at the little girl and took her hand.

"Come on," she said.

"To where?"

"To the stars. Where else?" The witch asked cackling again.

"Really? I always wanted to do that!"

"I know," she whispered, "now come on."

They soared, they sailed, they dived, they diverted, Ginny laughed, the witch cackled, as on top of a broom the two left the ground behind. As they sped higher, Ginny spread her arms and hands wide to feel the cold wind stream through her fingertips. She yelled in delight. It was as wondrous as she always imagined it would be. Looking around she spotted other familiar faces.

Winnie the Pooh and Piglet too waved from a hot air balloon that had a honey pot for a basket, while Tigger and Rabbit bounced up ever now and then with Eeyore in their arms.

The Beatles flew by in a Yellow Submarine.

"Hi Ginny!" they called, "all you need is love!"

The Backstreet Boys flew by as well -dancing and singing in a space ship.

"It's all because of you Ginny!" they sang. The little girl happily waved in acknowledgement before the witch raced them through the clouds and sky in the opposite direction. With no warning the broom blasted forward at a crazy speed. The stars, clouds and black sky blended all together until it was just a blurb of blackness with the occasional burst of light. It was amazing sight to behold. The Witch dived again. Ginny- with eyes tightly closed- screamed in delight as they went speeding toward the earth. Just as they were about to hit, the witch veered off and came to a complete stop.

"You have to go back now." Ginny slowly opened her eyes and looked at the Witch confused.

"Go back to where?"

"Back home," said a deep voice the little girl had never heard before, but still seemed oddly familiar. Turning around she came face to face with a short man with a wild beard and laughing eyes. Ginny took note that his smile was an awful lot like Atticus's.

"Who're you?"

"Harry, your grandfather." Ginny's eyes opened wide.

"I'm dead!?" The man laughed uproariously.

"You are far too full of questions and have too many quests yet to go on to be dead my dear Virginia. Now what about you coming to talk to me for a little while before you go?"

Ginny, later, found herself starring up at a white ceiling. Addie was calling her name.

"I found God Addie and I'm right. Finn is working for the devil."

Atticus just hugged his sister in relief that her scattered brain hadn't been more scattered from the accident.

Finn had been with her father when he had got the phone call. It was she that ended up calmly driving them to the hospital and beginning the round of phone calls that had to be made; the first one to a certain sister in New York.

"You stupid..."

"Now, Mrs. O'Connelly put that down."

"Shut up."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh Gwen you never could..."

"That was really very...."

"What do you know you..."

"Mean spirited..."

"Son of a..."

"Never been more insulted..."

"Have you."

"Empty threat you ass..."

"Get out of my office."

"I can't believe..."

"Slut."

"Whore."

"Waste of humanity."

"Waste of my time."

Mac watched the fight calmly leaning against the doorframe. It was hard to say who would win, Earnest, Gwen or Samantha. Now Samantha certainly was vindictive enough, but Gwen really hated Samantha and if Gwen was made up of anything it was strong emotions. And Earnest-Mac quickly ducked a vase that smashed right were her head had been-had anger to match.

Just as she was wondering if perhaps she should just let them kill themselves and solve all her problems, her cell phone began to ring.

"Hello?" answered Mac heading out the door so she could hear. "Finn what's wrong?" and as if they could sense something serious was about to be said the three fighting fell silent. "Car accident! I'm coming. What happened?" she asked quickly heading out of the office grabbing her brief case as she went. Gwen watched her go with varying emotions on her face and then just as suddenly as her granddaughter ran out of the room.

Sparrow woke up to the sound of someone singing.

_Wait minute boys this ones not dead, so they took him to the infirmary and even though this man could hardly see, they told him to identify the guilty man! _

Huh?

_Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man the authorities came to blame...._

Who was singing Bob Dylan-and particularly that song? Sparrow opened her eyes painfully. Ginny.

_Tried to change a man into a mouse!_

"Ginny, honey are you alright?"

"MOM!" Sparrow cringed in agony. I will never drink again, Sparrow swore to herself.

"Quiet voice Ginny. Mommy's head hurts even worse then before."

"Oops. I talked to Grandpa. He says hi and not to be too hard on his Starling." Sparrow quickly opened her eyes again and looked at her daughter.

"How do you-are we dead?"

"No, apparently I'm way to full of questions."

"Honey--"

"Sparrow!?" The woman in question was distracted from her youngest when Charlie came rushing into the room looking white as a sheet. He kissed Sparrow's head and hugged her hard to his chest. "God, I thought....no matter what I thought, you're alright and everyone's going to be alright. Ginny watched unnerved from the foot of the bed. She had never seen her father like this. He always was the calm one. Suddenly, Ginny really wanted Addie. Quickly she left the room to go find him.

She found him out in the waiting area with Finn. Wordlessly she crawled into his lap and buried her face into his shoulder. Atticus- just as she hoped he would- hugged her tight and told her everything was all right.

Gwen quickly put the phone back in the cradle and then picked it up again. She punched in a number.

"Crane, honey, I need you to go to Stoneybrook. Yah, that's right where your sister lives."

End of chapter

Stariegirl: I'm amazed that was the only typo you found! I had to re-haul the whole chapter there was so many! Anyway, thanks for the review! I hope your first week of College has gone all right.

Awesome Sauce: Thanks for the review and the constructive crictism. I see your point completely and I'm changing that ending line. It was silly, but what can I say, I like the romance novels and there full of them! I hope you keep reviewing and enjoying the fic.

Forgot my password: I hope you remember it! Thanks for the review!

Happy Birthday to Linda, happy Birthday, happy birthday, happy Birthday to LINDA!


	10. In which Sparrow does not enjoy being th...

Disclaimer: Own nothing including song, KFC and I think that's it.

Chapter 10 

Of 

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted 

A chapter entitled

In Which Being the Heart of the House is NOT to Sparrow's Liking. 

The injury count for the accident was minimal. Sparrow came out the worst with a broken ankle and a new appreciation for pain killers. Atticus had a cut forehead that he received courtesy of the steering wheel. It had required five stitches to close and the doctors had been worried that he may have cracked his skull. Nobody else had been. They remembered Atticus's childhood with his Mother's reflexes. It had often been remarked that his skin and bones were as strong as steel. Ginny had come out the best of them all by only being knocked out for a short time. Her doctor had wanted to keep her at the hospital for observation- just to be on the safe side. By 12:00 that night he was seriously contemplating transferring her to the psych ward. To say the least, the doctors and nurses were happy to see the Thomas's go a day later.

---------------------

A few days after her discharge Sparrow came to the conclusion that her husband of 19 odd years-no doubt from the strain of being surrounded by such woman in his life- had finally given up and gone crazy too. He had demanded that Sparrow stay in bed- completely ignoring the fact that Sparrow's doctor had cleared her for hobbling around on crutches. He served her breakfast, lunch and dinner in bed everyday. Something he was quite capable in doing as he had taken a week off work. He had even started sleeping on a cot in their room so that he would not bug his wife at night. At first Sparrow enjoyed this, but after the second day was starting to get a little tired of lying around watching the soaps. Thus, in typical Sparrow fashion she tried to escape. But despite some brilliant attempts and some not so brilliant, Charlie found her every time and hauled her back. Ninteen years of marriage, I'm sure, had something to do with his uncanny ability to screw Sparrow's every escape attempt. It was also this same 19 years of marriage that stopped Sparrow from killing him. To Sparrow it seemed her new catch phrase was, "But I'm fine!" To which Charlie would make no reply just carefully dump his wife back in bed and go make her some chicken soup. The hostage, oddly for her character, didn't argue passed "But I'm fine," about her treatment. She didn't even ask why he had targeted her and not the kids (whom he'd had become more protective of but didn't go as far as locking them in a room against their will). She already knew the real answer and she understood.

-----------------------

Ginny cautiously peered around the corner of her parent's bedroom on the second floor of the Brewer Mansion. Her blue eyes locked with her mother's brown, curious ones. Crawling on the floor, the girl crawled into her mother's waiting arms. The two were silent for a full minute as Sparrow patiently waited for her daughter to start. This was the standard procedure if Ginny ever directly sought you out for anything.

"I think I made a mistake."

"Really?"

"Yes. Finn's not the devil, Tonya is." Sparrow found herself quickly stuffing a bit of pillow in her mouth to keep from giggling at her perfectly serious daughter. After the accident, Tonya had showed up at the hospital to see how Atticus was doing. Perhaps it was the pain medication or the realization that life does end at some point, but Addie had found the courage to ask out the girl as his scalp was being stitched. Well actually he asked if he could marry her, but then quickly reneged the question when Tonya had asked just how hard had he hit his head. She had said yes to the idea of dinner and then fled from the room to throw up somewhere. The rest of the week they had barely spent time apart. Any spare time had been taken by the Brewer's and the Thomas's fussing over the brother and sister. Something Ginny, who was use to having her brother to herself, did not like.

"Tonya was going to happen one day my dear."

"What d'yah mean?" Sparrow was silent for a moment.

"I can still remember the day Atticus met you for the first time," she began smiling to herself. "Your brother had been hoping for a brother badly. As far as he was concerned girls were on the same level as spinach, liver and the flu. I think his opinion may have had something to do with Finn liking to lock him in the basement when no one was looking and..... other things," Sparrow ended cringing a little. "Anyway, when he saw that you were a girl he burst into tears and ran from the hospital room. You could hear his screaming a floor away. It wasn't exactly the kind of first impression your father and I were hoping for to say the least. It was a rough couple of months, but Addie could not resist you. Later, it just became an added bonus that the second you opened your mouth you knew all the right ways to drive Finn absolutely crazy and were happy to do it."

"So?"

"So, girls are going to come and go. And you can bet all the money in the world they're all going to all know how old you are, what you look like, what your favorite color is, various adventures you have taken part in since you were born and many, many other things.

"Really?"

"Yep."

"That still doesn't give me Addie back."

"He'll come back eventually. Now how about we read a bit of your Uncles new book? Hum? We really need to get you caught up on your romance novels and lay off a little on all that Shakespeare your father has been hoisting on you. It's shameful how little you know. How are you going to be able to realize that the Sheik that mysteriously collapses on your doorstep from a sniper's bullet is your soul mate if you don't keep of with your Harlequin?" Ginny eyed the door and wondered if she could make it. Escape was impossible. Sparrow seemed to have noticed where her daughter's eyes had wondered and had tightened her hold. "Now this one is about a Prince that's a doctor and he gets stranded on a deserted island inhabited by scantily clad woman who want to eat him, except for one who thinks he's kind a cute....

Yes, Sparrow was bored and on pain medication- always a lethal combination.

**Sunday: 4 Days after accident, 3rd day in confinement **

Elizabeth watched her oddly nervous and exhausted son carefully load up a tray of chicken soup and begin to head upstairs to his hostage held wife.

"Charlie!" He turned around quickly and faced his Mother.

"What?"

"Let me take that for you."

"No. It's all right, I've got-" Elizabeth simply ignored him and took the tray. She found Sparrow lying on the floor throwing a ball into the air. She didn't recognize it from anywhere.

"Where did you get that?" The girl in question lifted her head to the sound of her Mother-in-laws voice and got a ball in the face for her effort.

"Ow. The cat."

"You really must be bored."

"Oh look Chicken Soup," Sparrow said unenthusiastically and with a particularly pained look on her face.

"Well it's good for you at least," Elizabeth set the tray down on the floor beside her daughter-in-law and then sat down herself.

"Yes, I suppose all the peeing I'm doing is cleaning the old system out."

"Thanks Sparrow."

"Yah, that's not a pretty image."

"For allowing him to be crazy."

"Oh." Sparrow began to chuckle deep from within her gut. "I suppose its only right I return the favor."

"You know when he lost Jen," The easy going mood suddenly vanished, "it hit him real hard." Both women cringed at Elizabeth's poor choice of words. "He found himself with a one year old and no idea what he was supposed to do now. Those were some real tuff first years for him, for us all really." Elizabeth trailed off and didn't continue, but Sparrow got what she was trying to say anyway. "He was 22 years old. Wasn't even out of school yet." The silence was deafening. Then Elizabeth seemed to shake herself out of her trance and smiled at Sparrow. "But we survived and I don't think I've ever been more proud." Sparrow returned the smile. "Though I don't think any of us wants to go through something like that again. "I'm glad you and the kids are all right."

"So am I. Now how about some chicken soup?"

"Nice try, but no thanks."

"Oh well. It was worth a try." Elizabeth patted Sparrow's knee and headed for the door. The girl was left alone with Finn's cat, Striker. "Here, kitty, kitty. You're supposed to like chicken right?

--------------------------

For the fifth time Sparrow was watching Titanic. But this time around- just to make it interesting- she turned down the volume on the movie and turned up Snoopy vrs The Red Baron as sung by some old veteran's band.

Oh Dear, oh my Titanic has rammed into an iceberg and it's all our young lovers fault!

_After the turn of the Century _

_In the clear blue skies over Germany_

_Came a roar and a thunder man had never heard_

_Like the screaming sound of a big war bird_!

The Mother, heartbroken, smiles down at her children as she tucks them in for the last time. As she straightens the cover, she tells a magical story.

_10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more_

_that bloody Red Baron was rolling up the score_

_80 men died trying to end that spree _

_of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany _

Rose and Jack run through the sinking hallways of the doomed ship. They almost make it to safety, but oh no the gate is locked. But then...

_In the Nick of time a hero arose _

_A funny looking dog with a big black nose _

_He flew into the sky to seek revenge_

_But the Baron shot him down. _

In a fit of rage Cal again tries to destroy the love between his ex-finance and her boy-man sensitive artist by shooting at them, thus forcing them back into the heart of the sinking ship. He does not hit them.

_Curses Foiled again! _

_Now Snoopy had swore he'd get that man _

_So he asked the great Pumpkin for a new battle plan_

_He challenged the German to a real dog fight _

_As the baron was laughing, he got him in his sight_

The band, instead of leaving, keeps on playing as the water gets higher

_Do do do ado a do ow, a doo a do ow oh oh_

Propeller man smacks into propeller

That bloody red baron was in a fix 

_He tired everything, but he'd run out of tricks_

In desperation they fire off fireworks to try and attract the attention of others in passing ships.

_Snoopy fired once and then he fired twice_

_And soon that bloody red Baron went spinning out of sight _

The first class woman watch in horror as the boat sinks farther and farther into the depths of the black ocean.

_Well 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more_

_That bloody red Baron was rolling up the score....._

"That a song works even better then I thought it would," said Sparrow speaking out loud to no one.

---------

A sick Finn sprawled across the bottom of her parent's bed reading a book on superstitions. Her mother was sprawled out at the top reading a travel brochure for Egypt.

"The Sparrow," Finn read out loud, "is often considered to represent bad luck. If a Sparrow should fly into a house in Kent it must be killed immediately or it is believed the bad luck of the Sparrow will befall the household." Sparrow let the brochure fall into her lap.

"Well, I think we can strike Kent off the list."

"Maybe." Mother shot daughter a particular look.

"What about Egypt? With my apparent bad luck we might get locked in a tomb or better yet accidentally curse ourselves."

"As fun as that sounds Mom, I was thinking about Austria."

"No. No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not sure if the Austrian's have long memories or not."

"Don't tell me you got kicked out of that country too?"

"................. What about Hawaii? We could learn to surf."

"I could learn to surf, you'd get to stay on the beach and watch."

"Fair enough."

"What about Japan?"

"They're not really big on tourists, but maybe." Mother and daughter were discussing what they were going to do for Finn's 18th birthday. The 18th Birthday present from Sparrow was a one last crazy experience between mother and daughter before said daughter went off to school and forgot about her family. With Mac's 18th they had decided on a plane theme. Borrowing a private jet from one of her wealthier relatives, Sparrow had taken Mac to Europe, China and Australia. They had sky-dived, shopped till they dropped, saw all the sights, got drunk and had almost been arrested. It had been an amazing time. Money had not been an issue. Sparrow made a lot, had inherited a lot and never really used it.

"What about Vegas?"

"You're too young."

"You took Mac when she was 9."

"That was different. I was marrying her father."

"What about Italy?"

"I have it! Alaska!"

"What exactly is in Alaska anyway?"

"I don't know, but we'd find out wouldn't we?"

-------------------------------

Sparrow knew she had to get out. She couldn't take this anymore. But before she could get anywhere a short stocky man wearing a crumbled suit and a comb over walked into the room.

"Hey, Sparrow!"

"Crane! What are you doing here? Does Mom know about this?"

"She's the one who sent me! Hey your ankles broke! How'd that happen?"

"Car accident and Mom sent you?"

"WHAT?!"

"It was minor. I came out the worst."

"Oh. Thank God."

"Mom sent you?"

"Yah. I don't know why though. Normally it's Raven she sends out on her little errands. When did this happen?" asked Crane nodding his head at his sister's ankle. Sparrow ignored the question.

"Why did Mom send you?"

"Who knows? Its Mom, no one is-"

"Above her control, I know," finished Sparrow. "But Crane, I've been disowned."

"Again? When?" It should be mentioned at this point that Crane very rarely is aware about what is going on around him, but for some reason still managed to be one of the top lawyers in New York.

"A couple of weeks ago."

"Really. I must have missed the memo. But if you've been disowned and the accident is minor then why am I here?"

"I don't know Crane. I don't know."

"Oh well, it's not my job to understand what goes through Mom's head. Thank God. How about going to get some ice cream? I want to hear all about little Finn and Atticus."

"What about Ginny?"

"Who's Ginny?" Sparrow decided to just let that one go.

"I'm not allowed to leave my room."

"What? Have you been bad?"

"No. But Charlie wants to keep me were he can find me."

"Ho Ho, still acting the newlyweds are you?"

"I wish."

"What's this? Trouble in paradise? Do tell."

-------------------------

Sparrow was done. She had just spent that last week holed up in her room and if she didn't get out now, well the next room she'd get stuck in would have padded walls.

The bird girl took her opportunity late Saturday afternoon when in a rare moment no one was in her bedroom. Charlie was making more soup, Finn was picking up Mac, Ginny was in her room, Addie had gone off with Tonya and the senior Brewer's were taking naps in the bedroom down the hall.

Sparrow had no idea were she was going or how she was going to do it; she just began hobbling. Charlie was in the kitchen, that was a given. Quickly she hobbled to the stairs. Problem- can't get down them very quickly. Banister? Nope, only end up killing herself. Hopping down while holding onto Banister? What if she missed? Pain. All right, maybe looking at the stairs closer will give her an idea.

Thud!

Loud.

"Sparrow?"

Crap.

Footsteps of Charlie heading up the stairs. Quickly, need an idea! Eureka!

Sparrow scooted on her butt and pushed off, just like she was six. Unfortunately it was a bit harder with only a one leg. Ow, I can't believe I use to do this as a kid! Quickly like a mix between an army man and a snake, she slides across tiled floor. Using the crutches, she hoists herself up and out the door without making any sound.

Success!

Way too easy!

"Sparrow?"

"Bah!"

Quickly Sparrow dives into the bushes as door opens. Sees husband start walking down the street towards downtown calling her name in a panic.

FREEDOM! SWEET FREEDOM! Now where too? Restaurant. Ice cream stand. Steak house! KFC? NEVER!

------------------

Mac found Sparrow right where she thought she would-eating an extra minty chocolate chip ice cream cone at the ice cream stand by the park. She was surrounded by a bunch of kids chopping down on their own cones bought (Mac had no doubt) by Sparrow. She had often done the same thing when the two of them use to come here. Mac turned off the rental car and made her way over to her stepmother.

"Why am I not surprised Sparrow?" The nearly 50 year old woman turned around and looked sheepishly at her 28 year old stepdaughter like a child whose hand had just been caught in the cookie jar.

"Man you're so busted," stated a nine-year-old. His entire face was covered in cookies and cream ice cream.

"If I buy you an ice cream cone too, will you forget you saw me?" asked Sparrow hopefully. Having no intention of saying yes, Mac opened her mouth to say so, but Sparrow's smiling face and desperately pleading eyes caused her to cave.

"As long as its two scoops."

"Excellent! Conner, my ice cream man gives this girl a scoop of butterscotch and strawberry please! Put it on my tab. That's still your favorite right?"

"Yes."

"Did you know that I am the only customer here that has a tab? I give so much business they say I'm family."

"That's not really surprising."

"Here you go Miss."

"Thank you." Mac took the cone and sat down beside her stepmother. "So, how'd you do it?"

"I walked out the door- well hobbled," answered Sparrow as she took a very satisfying lick of her ice cream.

"Really?" Mac stopped mid-bite in disbelief. "Dad didn't catch you?"

"I don't think he was expecting something so obvious from me." They sat silently for a few minutes. Just like with Ginny, Sparrow waited for Mac to break the silence.

"True. Listen lets go for a walk." Sparrow looked at her Mac in disbelief. "Or how about I take you out for pie instead?"

Guess what one Sparrow chose.

-----------------------

"Now," began Sparrow taking a huge bite out of her delicious blueberry pie, "what's on your mind?"

"Is there something on my mind?" Mac took a much smaller bite of her pie.

"You're fidgeting and you're silent. That means you want to talk about something highly uncomfortable. So you might as well spit it out and get it over with."

"I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?" cried out Sparrow spitting out her pie into Mac's face.

"I suppose I deserved that."

"You're what?"

"I'm kidding."

"That's not funny!"

"Maybe not."

"Spit it out Mac."

"I think you just did," Mac speculated using her napkin to wipe the half-chewed pie off her face.

"What is it?"

Silence.

"Mac?

"I always kept you separate. You were always Sparrow." The two women looked at each other across the small table. Mac looked nervous and confused: Sparrow looked thoughtful.

"I picked up pretty quit," Sparrow took a bite of her pie, "that as far as you were concerned you had a mother and didn't want nor need a new one."

"You were okay with that?"

"Sure, if that was what you wanted."

"I'm not sure that's true."

"You didn't want that?"

"No, that you weren't my mother." Sparrow looked at her stepdaughter intently. "Somewhere along the line you took on that role without me even noticing." Mac stated this with little emotion; it was more in a tone of something that was matter of fact. "The honest truth Sparrow is I don't remember my Mom and I don't ever remember losing her. I just remember she wasn't there. Something was missing. And then you came and over time it didn't seem like that anymore. You were my Dad's wife, you went shopping with me and I complained to you about boys- things like that. We interacted like Mother and daughter. But somehow in my mind, I never actually acknowledged you as Mother. And I have just realized how unfair that was to you." Sparrow stared at Mac in a stunned silence. "And when I heard that you had been in a car accident just like Mom, I felt that missing feeling again only it was sharply painful. So, I am not ever actually going to call you Mom, but let's face it, you kind of were since I was 9. I just wanted you to know that." Mac looked up from the plate she had been staring throughout her confession. Sparrow was holding her fork loaded down with pie half way to her mouth and looking at Mac with tear filled eyes.

--------------------

At three in the morning the light was still on in Ginny Thomas's room. It had been on since one, unbeknownst to anyone else in the house.

She was sitting on the floor hunched over a piece of canvas. In her hand was a charcoal pencil. That same pencil had created the masterpiece in front of her; a detailed sketch of a short man with laughing eyes that reminded Ginny of Atticus.

End of chapter..... I'm not sure about this chapter.

Review Responses:

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review and sorry for the long delay.

Awesome Sauce: I hope your test went well and thanks for the review! Sorry for the long delay.


	11. Earnest Lyon Realizes he's Screwed

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Chapter 11

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted.

A chapter entilted:

Earnest Lyon FinallyComprehends he's Screwed.

A/N you know if you put too much milk in tomato soup, it really tastes bad. But anyway, groveling. I'M SO SORRRYYY!

Mac Thomas was in a state of absolute amazement-something that did not happen to her often. Normally, the young professional prided herself on knowing absolutely everything about her clients. This included the stuff they told her bluntly or offhandedly or the stuff she had to track down by stealing, prying and blackmailing. But this? She had not even imaged it possible! After working on so many campaigns since she was 13, she had uncovered more then a few dirty secrets and thus was shocked by nothing anymore. But this? As it turned out Earnest Lyon-most characteristically associated for his explosive and seemingly violent temper when things did not go exactly as he wanted-did, in fact, have a heart. And a very big one at that!

So, even if it killed her, Mac was going to put this man in office. For once in her life the young woman-finally-believed in the candidate she was working for. It was a wonderful feeling.

Sitting behind Earnest's desk, in his huge chair, with his various bank statements around her, Mac smiled the smile of the wicked.

------------

Earnest was annoyed beyond any doubt. Nothing new in that. It was something everybody had to learn to live with. But instead of people all but jumping to get out of his way and doing everything he asked, poor, grumpy Earnest hit a symbolic brick wall. Sitting in HIS chair smiling evilly and looking remarkably unconcerned about the glare he was sending her was Mac.

"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT MY CHAIR?!" he hollered. Poor Mrs. Micheals who had just been coming in made a hasty retreat back out the door.

"I have to give you credit Earnest, you do put on one hell of a good act." Many factors from this statement almost caused dear Ernie boy's head to explode in a gruesome tide of boiling hot gray matter. First off, he had no idea what Mac was talking about so smugly, she was sitting in his chair-AGAIN- and of course her tone was too remarkably calm for someone he had just hollered at. Summed up? He had no control.

"What are you talking about?" he hissed in such away that it seemed he had shouted directly in Mac's ear.

"You're a softy," the woman stated in a normal tone before getting out of the chair with a coffee cup in hand, "and because of that, I am going to make sure you win this election." The door closed. Mac had effectively ended the conversation. Earnest was left standing alone in his office staring at his chair lazily spinning around from the force of Mac leaving it. Generally, when someone assures you that they mean to do everything in their power to give you what you want you should be happy. But no-no, that would just not be Earnest's style. No-no, Earnest must look the gift horse in the mouth. As he says, it's better to be in the front looking at the teeth and making sure everything is alright then later be at the back and get kicked by the hooves. But anyway!

The tall, powerfully built man stuck a ham-sized hand out and stopped the chair. Sitting down, he sprung up again and headed for his doorway. Once out in the main floor-where all the other desks were grouped-he homed right in on Mac refilling her coffee cup.

Her positively stormed over.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he screeched. Everyone either made hasty exits or hid behind something to shamelessly listen in.

"You give all the money your mother gives you-and according to your bank statements that's quite a bit-away to various charities. At the present moment, the suit I'm wearing is worth more then you are," Mac said calmly stirring her coffee and rolling her eyes. Earnest was momentarily stunned.

"How the hell do you know that?" the tone he used was the quietest anyone had heard him use.

"How the hell do you think I wasn't going to?" Mac countered completely unconcerned with how angry her boss was getting. She was kind of annoyed herself about the situation. Earnest was about to tear a strip into her, but first he had to make sure something wasvery clear.

"No one is to know about this." His tone was dead serious.

"Not even a little?" asked Mac

"No."

"Fine." Earnest was confused. That was way too easy. His philosophy about the gift horse came into effect.

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"It means fine." She began to walk away.

"NO, NO, NO," Earnest yelled following her, "It doesn't. You've already done something haven't you?"

"A little bit paranoid aren't you Ernie."

"Oh dear Lord what have you done?" Mac merely smiled and continued walking.

"I'LL SUE YOU FOR EVERYTHING!" he hollered again. Well she's done it, he thought, she's got me exactly where she can control me. "BLAST IT ALL TO HELL!" he yelled before running after his Campaign Manager again. Something, he realized in a horrible realization, that he was going be to doing an awful lot for the next month or so.

--------------------

Very short, but this is only half of the chapter. The other half will be up (hopefully) soon. If not you have free leave to flame me.

Stargirlie: Charlie calm down? No. No, Charlie has some issues to deal with yet. Thanks for the review and I hope you haven't given up on the fic.

Awesome Sauce: I did what you said and gto back on the election. I hope you enjoy, thanks for the review and I hope you haven't given up on the story. Oh and we will be seeing more of Tonya and Addie as a couple later on.


	12. Trouble on the Horizon

Disclaimer: Own nothing. 

Chapter 12

Of

Bowling: The Sport for the Broken Hearted

Trouble on the Horizon 

A/N Well that was some interesting reviews. And this chapter? This is one of the weirdest I've done. I don't know if I like it or not. Review responses at end of chapter…..I think.

Ginny Thomas had given up on life and decided to concentrate on the dead. Surrounding her in heaps were drawings and sketches of a place in the stars with a wicked witch and a man that had Atticus's smile. The girl was sitting on a stool with a paintbrush in hand, poised and ready over a canvas. The look in her eyes could only be called crazed. And it would be since the little girl hadn't slept a night through since the accident. She had been struck by inspiration and nothing, not even sleep, gets in the way of that. 

---------------------------------

Gwen was annoyed with her son and once again it was all Sparrow's fault.

"What do you mean when you say she's fine?" demanded Gwen standing in the front entrance of her apartment.

"That she's fine?" answered Crane oh so foolishly from the door. He had yet to be invited inside his mother's home.

"CRANE YOU GRADUATED FROM HARVARD, YOU ARE A PARTNER IN A VERY ESTEEMED LAW-FIRM AND YOU ARE AN O'CONNELLY! ARE YOU ACTUALLY TELLING ME THAT YOU CAN COME UP WITH NO BETTER DESCRIPTION THEN FINE?!" Crane suddenly found himself wishing-as he cowered on the floor in terror- that Sparrow was back in the family again, so his mother could go back to yelling at her.

"She seemed happy." Foolish, foolish Crane, in so, so many ways.

"STUPID IDIOTIC…."

--------------------

_pitter-clunk-patter_

_pitter-clunkiedy-patter. _

_Whoosh,clunkiedy-patter-screech! _

Earnest was in earnest and sitting in front of broken portable fan in the middle of November. Why? Perhaps, like him, it was broken. Perhaps he felt a certain empathy with the clunking, screeching fan that was more then likely going to end up in the trash heap at the end of this business day. Hum. Empathy may be the wrong word. Perhaps it would be better to call it sympathy. The kind of sympathy created from being in the same hopelessly screwed situation.

It was in this state that Mac found him.

"What are you doing with that old fan?" Earnest said nothing. He did not even acknowledge her presence. The young woman shrugged her shoulders and walked into the office.

_Whoosh-clunkiedy-patter-screech-screech-screech-screech! SCREECH-SCREECCCCHHHH-SCCCCCRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEECCCCCCCHHHHHH. _

_Thunk and fizzle._

The fan died.

"Well that's going to have to be tossed out before it causes a fire." Mac maneuvering around her sulking boss unplugged the fan and tossed it into garbage in the hall. It landed with a thud. That thud was answered by another thud. Mac quickly turned at the sound. And there was Earnest slamming his head against the desk in, Mac assumed, a show of defiance over the young woman's control over him. I think it ran along the lines of, you may control my entire life but you can't stop me from trying to end it the stupidest way possible. Mac ignored the dramatics and started carelessly shifting through her boss's mail.

"Sheesh Ernie, you'd think with your mother you'd be used to being blackmailed." Well! Let me tell you that got a reaction!

"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE YOU FREAKISH FEMALE OF EVIL!"

"No." It's amazing the power of that simple word. Why, it took out a 6'3, 250 pound man in one go.

------------------

Atticus eyed his butt in the mirror and tried to decide if it looked cute or not in the pants he was wearing. He could not tell. Charlie walked in on this.

"What are you doing?" Addie's face turned the color of an overly ripe tomato- you know the kind that if you don't eat soon will end up rotting in a day?

"Nothing. I am doing nothing." He took one largest step away from his mirror and smiled at his father. Charlie merely raised an eyebrow.

"I take it from you checking out your butt, you and Tonya have a date tonight?

"Yah."

"How late are you going to be?" asked Charlie leaning up against the doorframe with his concerned parental face on.

"11?"

"11?" Charlie cried in disbelief losing the parental face and replacing it with a mischievous one.

"Something wrong with that Dad?"

"Well, it's just you're my only son and I did have a reputation with the ladies that must be maintained for the family honor you know."

"And yet somehow you ended up with Mom."

"You know 11'clock is kind of late."

"I thought as much." Charlie rolled his eyes, while grabbing his son in a loose headlock.

"Smartass."

"Dad?" asked Addie in muffled speech.

"Yah?"

"How did you impress Mom when you were dating?"

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked kind of concerned about the question though trying to hide it.

"How do you keep her interested in you? How did you surprise her? And please keep all sexual reference to yourself."

"I didn't have to. Your mother has a real gift of keeping things interesting for all those around her."

"True."

"And I never had to impress her."

"Oh."

"Look Atticus, girls are complicated enough. Don't make it more complicated by pretending to be something your not because you think she'll like that more."

"I have to go." Atticus said still in the headlock. Charlie reluctantly let him go.

"Remember Atticus, romantic dinners don't always need candles. It only ends very badly if you do. Particularly if there is alcohol involved! And there better not be!" Charlie yelled at his son's retreating back.

(AN-and clearly I can not write father son conversations!)

----------

Gwen sat in silence as the various family heads of the O'Connelly clan filed into her neat living room. There was Bill, who made all his money through computer technology. There was Ida, who we have met before at her wedding and whose daughter had married the heir to the Trump fortune, Linda, an old maid that had single-handed taken over the flower industry in North America and Lydia, who didn't really do anything. All of them were fluttering around an old woman. No one sat until she did. No one spoke until she did..

"My children, the family conclave of the 2nd branch of the O'Connelly clan has come to order! It is because of you Gwen O'Connelly, wife of Harry O'Connelly, the son of the great Katharine O'Connelly, that we meet tonight. It has come to our attention that one of your grandchildren is in fact working for a Lyon?!" Immediately after the accusation was made there was a tense silence from the family heads. They were waiting for an answer Gwen REALLY did not want to give.

"I am saddened to say it is true." Gasps of surprise answered that oh so simple statement. Then the cries of injustice began.

"This is an outrage!"

"My children would never do such a thing!"

"The shame! The shame!"

"DEATH TO THE UNCLEAN ONE!"

"My children," interrupted the old woman, "be silent." Then she turned her ancient body to Gwen. "Tell us, does she understand the seriousness of this breech in family trust?"

"I am unsure. She is the child of my youngest."

"Oh bloody hell."

"Should have seen that one coming!"

"That explains it all."

"I told you we should have just ignored Harry's dying wish of Sparrow being allowed back into the family! It would have made a lot of things simpler now, I tell you! But no, you all said it was immoral." There was a disturbing amount of agreement with that statement.

"SILENCE!" screamed the old woman. No one even moved. "YOU WILL BE SILENT!" which was a redundant thing to say as everyone already was. "Now, Gwen, tell us what you have so far done about the situation?"

"Though it pained me, I have remembered our family honor and have disowned them." There was silence.

"And?" prompted a female head.

"That is all."

"Big whoop!"

"Nothing new in that Gwen!"

"She must realize the true depth and repercussions of their actions!"

"KILL THE UNCLEAN!"

"SILENCE!" again screamed the old woman. "Why has more not been done? Have you even cut the family from the will? Taken over her business? At least have the chit fired from her job?"

"No."

"Why not?" demanded the ancient woman waving her cane at Gwen.

"The situation has become complicated," Gwen answered defensively.

"Explain."

"Samantha Lyon." This got a very interesting reaction. Dear Ida, clutched at the small cross on her necklace, while Bill began praying, "Oh Lord deliver us from evil…." Linda began to grow faint and Lydia began joining in with Bill, "may we be blessed in this time of darkness…"

"That is a problem. What of that son of yours, Raven? He's a clever chap."

"Er.." hesitated Gwen.

"Why do you hesitate? Have you talked to him?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He's siding with Sparrow and Mac."

There was a dead silence and then in the silence there was a whisper.

_Revolution! Revolution! REVOLUTION! _

"That can not be permitted. They must be dealt with soon." As one the heads of the O'Connelly clan, 2nd branch bowed respectfully and walked out of the room.

An unnatural breeze blew across Raven's desk as he did the crossword. The same unnatural breeze blew through the office in Lyon headquarters causing the old dead fan to spin lazily in the garbage before it blew through the office were Mac and Earnest sat. The breeze even went all the way to Stoneybrook where it tickled Sparrow's skin as she was feeding her 25th bowl of soup to the cat. A feeling of dread crept over them all.

Stargirlie: Yah, you came back! Thanks for the review as always. Yah, I like Earnest and Mac. They're almost as much fun writing as Gwen and Sparrow conversations. Poor, poor Earnest, he hasn't even begun to comprehend the horror he is in for!

Lisa: Okay, I felt horrible and immediately went about writing the next chapter after reading your review! Lol. I hope you like this chapter and keep up with the story. Thanks for the review.

Awesome Sauce: I hope this chapter answered your question about the feud. You can look foreword to seeing even more of the inner workings of the O'Connelly clan. And Samantha will be showing up again soon. Thanks for the review and I hope you keep reading.


	13. FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Chapter 13

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!

A/N I really wish the idiot that invented independent studies was shot. Review responses at end of chapter. Happy Hoildays Folks!

Earnest looked him self in the mirror with a clarity that, quite frankly, scared him to his smoldering core. What he saw was a weak man being led around on a leash by an evil, evil, evil woman.

He couldn't let this continue.

But he didn't no how to make it stop.

Earnest, unlike his mother, was not the kind that played mind games. He never hid his emotions. Mad-yell. Happy-smile. Annoyed-yell. Sad-yell. Pleased-yell.

He blamed it on his upbringing.

So, what to do? He couldn't fire her. He needed her help and besides she was on his mothers pay roll. He couldn't kill her-that would land him in jail. That would make it really difficult to win an election. Perhaps he could hire someone to do it? But he didn't have any money. Well what did he know about her? Manipulative, little wolf that hides it all under a pleasant and pleasing sheep coat, Sparrow was her stepmother and her Grandmother hated her.

Her Grandmother hated her.

Time to start prying and he knew just the person to call to start the ball moving.

"Hi Mom!"

"Really Earnest, you haven't called me Mom since I locked you in the closet when you were three. What the hell do you want?"

------------

Earnest walked into headquarters holding an axe and immediately got the attention of everyone in the room, who were probably rather hoping he wasn't coming for them. His whole face was lit up and looked remarkably wicked. A sight that freaked the staff out even more then the axe in his hand did.

It seemed that while he was waiting for his mother to get the information he requested, Earnest was going to handle things the way he always did-directly.

----------------

The Ernie lad found her just were he thought he would, sitting in HIS chair, reading HIS mail. AGAIN. Well never again. To be fair, Earnest did give her one warning before his powerful frame swung the axe and sent it chopping into his chair. Poor Mac just had time to say something I can't repeat and sprawl across the floor. Earnest with a look of glee in his face continued to splinter his chair until it resembled something that had been eaten by a trash compactor.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" screamed Mac from the floor.

"Quite," answered Earnest wickedly lifting his powerful arms up again and bringing the axe down one more time. CHOP!

The chair collapsed into splinters.

"Now, get the hell out of my office!" hollered Earnest in his typical way. Mac- still sprawled on the floor with her boss's feet in front of her smelling up her breathing space-did not let lose the growing rage within her by means of screaming profanity as Gwen would and did. Nor did she try and say something sarcastic as her folks would have. No, no, neither option was Mac's style. Instead she took a chunk of chair (and with no warning I might add) smashed it into Earnest's foot. It hit with a satisfying THUD! The girl waited in anticipation for the screaming that was sure to come. But Earnest must have been on one hell of a power trip because he didn't even twitch.

Instead he grabbed Mac, threw her over his shoulder, walked out of the office and then out of the building. He stopped at the dumpster beside headquarters and unceremoniously dropped her into it.

He felt so proud!

Even, dare I say, powerful?! With head held high and nose in air, he turned to go back inside.

Mistake.

Without hesitation Mac sprang out of the dumpster like some horrible monster and jumped him.

She went for the eyes.

A battle broke out.

The staff watched from the windows. Most acted stunned, while the more outgoing began making bets. The odds were in Mac's favor….until a twirling Earnest slammed a clinging Mac on his back into that very window everyone was clamoring around watching the fight. Luckily, the glass had bars on it and couldn't be broken. Course it kind of hurt Mac some.

"OWWW!" she screamed. For a split second, Earnest hesitated. It was all the advantage Mac needed. With out pity and still clinging to Earnest via her arm around his neck, she grabbed his one ear with her fingers and the other with her teeth. She threatened to pull/bite if he didn't let her go. Well Earnest could almost be called beat. He had been sneak attacked and lost control of everything. Again. So, he used the same directness to regain control. Again.

Earnest purposely fell backwards-to the horror of many of the staffers watching-and crushed his campaign manager under his great bulk. Mac had the air completely knocked out of her, but she didn't let go of his ears. How unfortunate for Earnest. Without hesitation she pulled and bit.

"OW!!!!!!" Earnest ROARED!

"LET-weeze-ME-weeze-GO-weeze-NOW!"

"NO."

"NOW!

"NO! I WOULD CHOOSE DEATH!"

As Mac lay there, barely being able to breath she realized that this could go on all day if someone didn't end it. She really didn't have the energy to fight all day. She didn't really have the energy to keep doing this everyday.

"Alright-weeze-we need-weeze-to find-weeze some common ground."

"ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT A COMPROMISE?" Earnest yelled in pain. Apparently he had been thinking the same thing.

"Yes-weeze. New footing and all that-weeze," Sparrow spit out quickly.

"NO MORE READING MY MAIL!"

"NO." Earnest pushed himself harder into the ground.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW," screeched Mac.

Mac began pulling and biting harder.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW," screeched Earnest.

"Earnest, I will win this election for you, but you have to trust me," whispered Mac as that was all she was capable of doing.

"I don't want YOU to win this election, I want to win this election."

"FINE," she hissed, "We'll both win this election."

"FINE!" Earnest agreed almost sounding insulted.

Slowly he got up. Mac did the same. They eyed each other a foot a part standing on a New York sidewalk.

New ground and new respect had been gained.

---------------

"I tell you Sparrow, we literally fought it out. Look I have to go, Kristy just showed up."

"Okay. Have fun tonight."

"Yah, I will. Bye."

Sparrow hung up the phone and looked at it in deep puzzlement. That had to be one of the oddest conversations she had ever had with her daughter.

But it also sparked an idea in Sparrow. She was still finding herself the unwilling prisoner with Charlie. Talking to him seemed to produce no results. So, something drastic had to be done.

Ginny critiqued the painting in the low light cast from a night light. The inky, blue blackness that seemed to twirl with the occasional twinkle from stars dwarfed the two figures at the bottom of the painting looking up.

It would do, decided Ginny.

"Ginny, I swear to God, if you don't turn that light out I will turn it out for you using your-" Finn broke off when she came storming in at 1 in the morning and saw her sisters room.

The walls up to the ceiling and even the roof were covered in sketches. The floor was littered with the same sketches. Pictures of stars, a witch and the little girl, a broom stick and a blimp and standing in the middle of all of this was a stunned Ginny.

"Holy crap," Finn stated stunned, "you've really gone off the dead end this time, haven't you?" Finn walked in and turned slowly looking at them all. Ginny's paralysis at her sister intruding wore off. All hell broke lose.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the six year old at the top of her lungs. Why? Who knows? It's Ginny. "GET OUT FINN! YOU AREN'T ALLOWED IN HERE!" Finn ignored her. So, Ginny started chucking her hard cover books at her.

"STOP THAT YOU CRAZY-"

"What are you yelling about this time?" asked Atticus cutting off Finn. Getting a look at his book throwing, red in face, screaming sister he immediately scooped her up and pinned her arms. Then he caught sight of the room.

"Oh my," he said dropping Ginny.

"OW!" screamed the little girl.

"Ginny!" Atticus quickly bent to help his sister up. Finn ignored them as she looked more closely at the sketches all around her. They were good. They were really good.

"Did you do all of these Ginny?"

"Well of course I did! Who else would have? THE TOOTH FAIRY?" screeched the little girl knocking her brothers helping hand away.

"What is going in here!" asked a new voice. Everyone turned toward the doorway. In it stood Watson, Charlie, Elizabeth and Sparrow looking more then a little annoyed.

"Further proof that Ginny has gone nuts."

Review Responses:

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review and I hope you like the new chapter. You're really going to like one of the coming chapters. Ginny's going to be getting some revenge on Finn!

Lisa: Thanks for the review and I hope you like the new chapter. Yah, Earnest and Mac conversations are the most fun to write after Gwen and Sparrow conversations.


	14. Interlude to Death

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Chapter: er-something

Of

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

Interlude to Death.

Sparrow couldn't sleep. The absence of Charlie gnawed at her mind, making it impossible. Instead, she found herself thinking over the last twenty years of her life. Things had changed drastically. Well she supposed it would have, but not QUITE in this direction. The Sparrow of that time had had no plans of marrying or having the dreaded children, children that she was more than sure would be corrupted if they ever became a reality. She had never imaged moving out of the city to some small little town where the emergency room would get to know her and her family on a first name basis. Her family. Now that really summed it up. She had never expected to be part of a family outside the one she had been born into. And, Sparrow thought smiling, she liked it. But right now, it was in trouble and no one was trying to do anything about it- which unfortunately meant she would have to.

The thought was uncomfortable. Things always had a tendency of becoming more, shall we say complicated, when she tried to fix them. And worst of all, the person she had come to rely on to help, to stick with her, and if need be drive her to the emergency room was currently sleeping two floors down and acting like a crazy man. After various brushes with the police, incidents with fire and other mishaps, Sparrow and her children had finally pushed him over the edge.

Well that was HIS problem, a rebellious voice in Sparrow's head shouted. Quietly getting out of her bed, Sparrow hobbled downstairs to the couch were Charlie was curled up on the too small pull-out. Sparrow lay down beside him. Charlie didn't wake up; he just sleepily wrapped an arm around her.

Sparrow knew that tomorrow she was going to have to have one hell of a conversation with Charlie. She was going to need her rest for it.

Ginny was annoyed. Before, she had hated her sister with a steady, calm hatred that incited her to just random acts of mayhem to annoy her sister.

Well, all bets were off now.

The Elder Sister was in for it. The Anger that normally stayed tightly under control blazed in her veins! It ignited a fiery inferno of hatred in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't been this angry since her Elder Sister had dared say that Glinda was the good witch and the Wicked Witch of West wasn't.

GIVE ME A FLYING MONKEY ARMY!

GIVE ME A BROOMSTICK!

GIVE ME GREEN SKIN!

GIVE ME A CACKLE THAT CAUSES ALL THE HAIRS ON YOUR SKIN TO FREEZE IN FRIGHT!

And I will give you a witch.

So how could anyone say that Glinda, with her pacifist Munchkin army, red hair, big puffy pink dress, and her BUBBLE be the good witch?

No, you couldn't… unless you were stupid…like Finn.

But anyway, what Finn had done this time was really inexcusable. She had sold her out to the 'rents. Now her father was talking about some child psychologist in New York, cause apparently it's strange for a six year old to spend half the night sketching and painting things by the dull light of a flower shaped night light! Apparently, telling the truth is strangely untrue because the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't real and she most certainly wouldn't be hanging out with the Beatles or Pooh, who also by the way apparently didn't exist either! Apparently, pinning all your sketches to the walls and ceilings is strange!

Well, Ginny most certainly didn't think she was strange and she most certainly blamed the fact that everyone thought she was on her Elder Sister, the infamous Double D aka Duchesss of Death! Yes, it was time to get rid of this evil here and now. In the darkness she was going to have to strike to shine a light-just like her flower shaped night light!

To the computer! She was going to need some help of the spiritual kind.

Mac posted the sticky note right onto the front page of the newspaper Earnest was reading.

"What does May 12, 8:00 mean?"

"It means put on your fancy duds and prepare to kiss a lot of ass."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been invited to the Clemmet's Anniversary Party."

"What?"

"The Clemmet's Anniversary Party on May 12 at 8:00pm."

"And let me guess, there are lots of rich people there that could lend support and money toward the campaign?"

"BINGO!"

"It's sure to be a lovely evening."

Raven was immensely unimpressed with what was happening at the moment. He had just been evicted from his law offices as well as his apartment. Half of his clients had told him they were going elsewhere for their legal services.

This had all the markings of his mother and her clawing, leeching manipulation tactics. The old battle axe and those other meddlesome fusspots of the clan of O'Connelly had been busy. Luckily, through some legal haggling-he wasn't a lawyer for nothing-he had managed to give himself a few days before they started to chuck his stuff out onto the street. With that immediate problem solved he moved onto the next one, which was what the hell was he going to do now?

It wasn't like he could just lease and rent new places. His mother would have certainly got to all those places already and used her particular, unique charm to make sure no one leased, rented or sold to him. But it wasn't like he could even very well pay for anything anyway since he was pretty sure his mother had frozen all his accounts. Well, he thought, if SHE insists on making a big deal about the Lyons, then I might as well make it worth the hassle.

-----

Samantha Lyon looked up sharply into the eyes of one of the last people in the world she had expected to see.

"Can I help you?"

"I think you may be the only one who can," said Raven O'Connelly taking a seat in one of the two chairs located in the offices of the Lyon Industry.

-----------------

In a large apartment across town, one Gwen O'Connelly stopped suddenly in her tracks. An icy breeze whipped through her hair causing the perfectly placed strands to flutter and tangle. And she could have sworn she could hear the faint laughter of someone on that breeze. The cold made her shiver, but the laughter was what caused the icy cold feeling of dread in her stomach, that ruthless, insane and threatening cackle.

----------------.

"This is going to be fun," was all Samantha Lyon said.

Well-oops. But I have excuses! I'm working two jobs, going to school full time and trying to figure out all the various paper work that comes when trying to go to University.


	15. Unfortunate Events

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted.

Unfortunate Events.

Chapter ?

Ginny by nature loved drama. How much would come to forever haunt Finn until the end of time.

The kindergarten class of Mrs. Mullins was putting on a play to shamelessly exploit parents for money to see their little darlings dressed in duck costumes that had already cost them 100 bucks to rent and wouldn't you know donations were graciously accepted on top of the ticket price.

Ginny had been barred from auditioning.

Odd since her family was old money, but Mrs. Mullins gross bias toward the girl seemed to even outweigh all the money she could make off her, which lets face it, was not totally unreasonable. Ginny had been hurt at first but had quickly gotten over that and had started planning revenge of the Ginny kind. The play that was being performed was the Ugly Duckling and had been reworked to include no less then 15 musical numbers. One for each child to perform to the adoration of their parents, siblings, neighbors etc. Ginny was given the important task of opening and closing the curtain.

I'm sure that if Gwen had been talking to this part of her family, she would have been perfectly outraged.

-------

Mac secretly loved shoes. As soon as she had hit the age of 13 they had become the thing she had dreamingly talked about opposed to the boys like the other girls. It was a love that had lasted right through her teens and early twenties and the reason why Mac at the moment was late. She couldn't decide between the dignified black with straps or the blue pumps. Both would look so pretty on her feet. But was the blue a little too wild for the evening? Probably better to be safe and go with the black. But they might make her look like she was trying too hard to be older. This is ridiculous Mac scolded inside her head, there shoes, chose a damn one and go. The real goal was to make sure Earnest didn't say or do anything stupid-not to look cute. Mac looked at the two pairs of heels on the bed with that last thought repeating again and again like the annoying beep of an alarm clock in her head. She tossed the heels back into her closet mournfully and slammed the door shut. Yes she had to be practical. There was no way in hell Earnest would stop talking unless he was in pain. Pain from a broken toe for example.

She headed toward the kitchen and opened the oven door. Waves of shoes fell to the floor in a multitude of colors and styles. Mac's oven was the home to her forsaken shoes, just as the oven itself was forsaken. But occasionally one sprang freedom, like if there was a costume party or something. Tonight it was the shoes that had the heels made of metal.

--------------

Ginny had always been a whiz when it came to computers, a fact that she kept hidden from family and friends. It was easier to hack into things when your parents only thought you could access things like Happy Play Time With Friends or the Back-Street Boy interactive CD-ROM and therefore it was completely safe to leave her unsupervised at the computer.

It wasn't.

Not at all.

Not a bit (ha, get it?)

As soon as her mother exited the room, Ginny ended her game of Dance Step 101: How to groove like the Back-street Boys and brought up something much less innocent.

Welcome to internet banking. Please fill in your name, account number and password!

Cecilia Mullins

Bank number: 438575494504

Password:

Processing

Processing

Processing

Welcome Cecilia! please choose the transaction you would like to make.

Ginny smiled in satisfaction as she slipped a certain teachers bank card into her pocket. It was always so much more practical to kill two birds with one stone.

---------------------

Mac arrived home later that night wincing. Though effective at shutting Earnest up, they were bruising her in-step. Happily, she slipped them off and headed to her little kitchen area. She had to admit she was on a little bit of a high. The evening could not have gone better in securing more support for Earnest. Sighing in contentment, she grabbed ice cream with one hand and dramatically wrenched open her oven door with the other one. The forsaken shoes seemed to have sensed her presence and had spilled forth from their non-burning inferno prison in a bid for freedom.

"Bugger it all."

"Why do you keep all your shoes in the oven?" Mac yelped as though pinched and turned toward the voice.

"Who's there?" shouted Mac as she grabbed a lime green flip-flop and held it in front of her like it was a gun or a baseball bat or the steak knives in the draw right beside her, basically like something harder then a sponge. It didn't help when the flip flop flopped back and foreword like a sea-saw with two evenly weighed children at the ends. One would have thought that it would be made of tougher stuff after being locked inhumanly in an oven for over a year but apparently not…

"Miss. Thomas put the shoe down."

"Mrs. Lyon?"

"The one and only." The lights turned on in the living room and there sat Samantha in one of Mac's chairs smiling in self satisfaction. "I have to say they are ugly enough to burn."

"Would you like some tea Mrs. Lyon?" calmly asked Mac lowering her "weapon."

"That would be lovely."

-----------------

_I am all alone in my ugliness_

_I AM ALL ALONE IN MY PAIN!_

Finn closed her eyes and dreamed of ear plugs. This had to be the absolute worst part of the many worst things that came with having a little sister more then 10 years your junior.

_I AM COMPLETELY GOING INSANE!_

Honey you have no idea.

_BEAUTY IS THE BANE---OF MY EXISTENCE._

The music stopped and it seemed as though the song had ended.

_OF MY EXISTENCE!_

Overachieving little puke kid, I hate you.

Thankfully, at this part the curtain closed dramatically (and in that way Ginny may have had the most important job of all) and the audience was given some relief. "I think I need to get some air," Finn said to Atticus. He couldn't hear her though. He had been smart enough to bring ear plugs. "ADDIE!" yelled Finn smacking the back of her brother's head.

"OW! What Finn?" He took one of the earplugs out.

"I'm getting some air would you like to come along?"

"Sure."

"How much longer is this thing anyway?" Finn asked following her brother out one of the exits. The air was cool and the sky was completely clear of any clouds, which meant the stars shine was particularly noticeable.

"Do you know female sharks eat their young," was Atticus's answer.

"That long?"

"Oh yah." The two looked up at the sky in silence. Blessed silence.

------------

Mrs. Cecilia Mullins could not understand it. Not only was Ginny Thomas behaving, she was doing it in a sane manner. There had been no dramatic monologues, there had been no weird beliefs expressed about rotting corpses, there had not even been grumbles about being cut from the play. Quite frankly it was damn creepy. Creepier even then Ginny's normal behavior. Now, Mrs. Cecilia Mullins always considered herself a brave woman (a very unfortunate belief that had landed her with Ginny in the first place) and she would not let this get to her. No, this was something she had wished for, prayed for, hell begged for. And she was going to enjoy it, not be suspicious to the point of paranoia. With a new determined smile on her face Mrs. Cecilia Mullins went to congratulate her little actors on a job well done.

------------------

Ginny smiled in satisfaction. Everything was set up as it should be.

-----------

"Gwen's done what!"

"You, your Mother and your Uncle have been ordered to be destroyed."

"THEY'RE GOING TO ASSASSINATE US?"

"Not quite. Much to messy. Chance of a prison sentence you see. No, they'll merely strip you of everything you own until the day you die. Apartments, bank accounts, jobs, your shoes."

"Huh," was all Mac could think to say.

"Food, your dog, your fish etc. But don't worry Miss. Thomas. It's during these times that you make use of those connections you have. And you have the best one of all Miss. Thomas. You have me to help you crush them." To emphasis her point Samantha took her cigarette and twisted the butt into the side table. "Soon you will learn the joy of character assassination, destruction of livelihoods and your enemy begging at your door for a scrap of week old bread crusts!" Samantha cackled lighting a new cigarette. "You know Michaela the problem with succeeding in making everyone fear you is that no one then ever tries to screw with you. I look foreword to getting back in the ring, so to speak. "

"Oh dear," was all Mac could think to say.

"Now, you phone that Stepmother of yours and tell her she has my help. I need to go talk to your Superintendent. He seems to think I can't enter here when I wish!" In Samantha style the old dame got up from her seat and headed out the door. Mac sprinted to the phone.

"SPARROW!

"MAC!"

"WE HAVE A PROBLEM," they both yelled at the same time.

"YOUR MOTHER IS TRYING TO WIPE US OUT OF EXISTENCE."

"BOTH YOUR SISTERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE COMMITTED."

"WHAT?" they cried mimicking each other.

"What did Ginny do this time?"

"What is my mother trying to pull THIS TIME?"

"Don't worry too much about that right now. Samantha's taking care of it." Mac paused for a second. "Actually, that's not a good thing. Samantha I think may actually be planning on killing someone."

"Huh," was all Sparrow said in response.

"Huh," was all Mac replied.

---------------

Ginny knew she was in big trouble this time. But who would have thought hiring an exorcist over the net using your teachers bank card and then having said exorcist come to your school play to perform an exorcism on your sister during the grand finale of a play you imposed on the audience when you locked your entire class including teachers in the make-up room during the intermission would get you into so much trouble? Come on, The Ugly Duckling? Boring. Exorcisms? Fun. And beneficial. She really wished people would appreciate the fact that Finn was no longer possessed by the devil. But no, they just kept going on about Mrs. Mullins apparent mental breakdown. And Finn trying to kill her with the cross the Exorcist had used. By the way Finn stole that cross. What do you think God was going to be more miffed about? What Ginny did or that Finn had stolen a cross the Exorcist guy used to save people's souls?

"Ginny," said Charlie's voice interrupting his youngest musings. "Your mother and I think it may be best if you went to visit your sister for a little while. Just until we can figure out a way to make people not press charges. Or have you committed."

"You think it might be easier if they actually didn't see me for a little while?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me gone too?"

"No." Ginny smiled. She was still loved and would be missed even if her parents wanted to strangle her right at the moment.

"When do I leave?"

"Your mothers on the phone right now with your sister."

"Dad."

"Yes Ginny."

"I love you"

"Your Mother and I do too," said Charlie hugging Ginny, "even though you take after your mother and grandmother a little more then may be healthy."

Alright, I hate writers block. I am rushing this one a little people. Expect I didn't really since I haven't updated for months. I'm going to bed.

Lisa: SORRY! I grovel at your feet. Charlie was on the couch because he didn't want to disrupt Sparrow while she slept. And he's scared of her.

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review even though I left you hanging there for a LONG time. Sorry about that. Your reviews are really appreciated.

NEXT TIME (and I've already started writing it!)

Ginny meets Earnest and Samantha Lyon.

Sparrow has a little talk with her mother.


	16. New York State of Mind

Disclaimer: Own Nothing.

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

New York State of Mind

Chapter 16

Two days after "the incident," Ginny was shipped off to New York and Mac. With Ginny's departure everyone's good moods seemed to depart as well. The old mansion was thick with tension which had led to icy silences all around. Sparrow and Charlie had had a huge blow-out and weren't talking to each other, while Finn was still steaming over Ginny. Even Atticus's sweet temperament had been turned sour by something.

Everyone had retreated to their own spaces contently miserable in their solitude. And that was how it was even now. And that poor misery should be spreading to Earnest right now.

Earnest was not sure how he had found himself in this situation. One minute Mac had been trying to convince him to lose his tie, the next his mother had saddled him with some little girl.

"Earnest we have important things to discuss," she'd begun pushing him across the room to the door. "Much more important then your little running for Mayor thing. Look after the girl. How hard can it be? And if you're so concerned for your campaign phone some reporters up and invite them along. It'll be great publicity. Earnest Lyon likes children blah, blah," with that she had slammed the door in his face.

He was currently standing in the exact same position 10 minutes later. He wanted so badly to bang his fists against the door and tell everyone to get out. But the fear he had of his mother and his self-discipline wouldn't let him. Reluctantly he turned away and came sort of face to face with a little girl.

"I'm Ginny Thomas. I was run out of town because apparently performing an exorcism on your sister while you've trapped the rest of your class in the make-up room is bad."

"Huh," said Earnest. The poor boy had had very little experience with small children throughout his years of bachelorhood. Children annoyed him, particularly the really small ones. They were wildly emotional and inarticulate to the point were they couldn't even tell their parents why they were being so wildly emotional.

"Nice to meet you," Earnest stated uncertain. He offered his hand to the little girl. Ginny took it solemnly. "My name is Earnest Lyon and I am running to be Mayor of New York."

"It's very nice to meet you as well Mr. Lyon." Well this isn't bad at all, he thought. She can articulate quite nicely. And she had her sisters red hair. Not that that was relevant really. "Where are we going?" the little girl asked protruding on his thoughts.

"Well up till ten minutes ago I thought I was going to be in my office doing work, so I must admit I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. Where do you want to go?"

"I want to see stars."

"In the middle of the day in New York City that might be hard to come by for most people, but I know just were to go." Smiling he offered his hand to the little girl who happily took it. Together they headed off into the New York street.

--------------------

Sparrow pounded on her mother's door using both of her fists vigorously. A whole ten minutes later Oriole opened the door.

"Sparrow," she began, "Mother-" She wasn't allowed to finish.

"Oriole. GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Shoving her sister aside using a crutch, the enraged woman barged into her Mother's huge, tacky apartment.

"MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER! MOTHER!" Hollered Sparrow standing firmly in the front entrance hall until a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Continue what you are doing and you will die. Why are you here?"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL MOTHER?"

"I'm doing what I must." Gwen stood tall in front of her daughter, portraying herself as the picture of noble suffering.

"ACCORDING TO THOSE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD!" Sparrow on the other hand was the picture of violent and powerful anger. She was very close to taking that rod of self righteousness that was shoved up her mother's ass and beating her with it.

"ACCORDING TO WHAT IS RIGHT AND HONORABLE." Mother and daughter suddenly took on a striking resemblance to each other.

"NO. ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT AND HONORABLE MOTHER. How could you do what you're doing to your granddaughter? Raven and I are one thing, but MAC?"

"I have no Granddaughter by that name-"

"Jesus, Joseph and Mary, Mother."

"because you are no longer my daughter," Gwen said fiercely. Sparrow didn't even blink.

"You've said that already, different variations of it all my life in fact. What you did fail to mention however, was this whole destruction of every aspect of my life and my daughter's life and my brother's life. And let me tell you something else, I was glad when it seemed you were out of Mac's life. It's a pity it didn't stay that way." With the experience that came with age Gwen kept the look of extreme hurt off her face and kept her hand at her side instead speeding toward Sparrow's cheek.

"You know you're doing a poor job to convince me to stop," she responded instead viciously.

"Oh, I didn't come here to ask you to stop. Experience has taught me that's a waste of my time. I came here to yell at you."

"How very mature of you Sparrow, leave now."

"No."

"Sparrow-"

"No. You are going to hear me scream at you for as long as I wish! See how you like it!" And she did. Well until Gwen's security goons showed up.

---------

"I see your point Ginny. You were clearly only trying to help your sister. And that Mrs. Mullins clearly shouldn't be teaching. "

"I know."

"I tell you Ginny, people get upset over the stupidest things."

"Clearly."

"Ice cream?"

"Yes please!"

"Addie, just out of the sake of curiosity, why does Ginny think I'm possessed by the devil?" Atticus didn't even look up from his computer. He had been wondering when Finn would finally ask him this very important question. How unfortunate that she should ask it when he was in such a bad mood.

"You breathed," he answered without pause.

"ATTICUS."

"Finn, it's Ginny." Atticus said annoyed, "It could be anything." Finn starred at her brother for a long time.

"I think I may hate her."

"No you don't," said Atticus bluntly turning toward his sister from the computer chair. He sighed heavily at her. He didn't want to have this conversation right now. He was not in the mood to placate her and explain the incredibly complex thing that was Virginia Thomas, six year old hell child. He was not in the mood to put up with compulsive dire threats from Finn Thomas. He was not in the mood to convince Finn that she did not hate Ginny and Ginny did not hate her. In fact he was not in the mood to deal with anymore girls. They were all freaking nuts as far as he was concerned and for one afternoon they could leave him alone. But no, Finn has to ask the complicated, loaded question that's answer could mean the difference between a reconciliation between Finn and Ginny or the two girls never speaking with each other again for as long as they both shall live. AND HOW THE HELL DID IT FALL ON HIS HEAD TO BE THE ONE TO HAVE TO FIX IT ALL THE TIME? HUH!

"No, I don't." Wow, she accepted that a lot quicker then I thought she would. Atticus looked at his sister stunned. Maybe this won't take as long as I thought. "But you have to admit I would have good reason to," finished Finn.

"True. But you're not as small as that." And he was right. They both knew it. Because though Finn tried to hide it by threatening bodily harm and death to anyone that annoyed her (she had never actually done it had she?) she was incredibly patient with people when she chose to be (hence why Ginny was still alive right now).

"Ginny doesn't hate you," began Atticus deciding that this sudden, unexpected reasonableness of his sister should be rewarded with his co-operation. "You just have a very complicated relationship, as most things are with Ginny."

"It isn't a complicated relationship. It's actually really simple. I'm the evil dragon and she's the annoying Knight on horseback with blond hair trying to kill me and steal my Princess." As she said this, Finn began flipping through a paper back on the coffee table. Atticus smiled at her.

"She was trying to save your soul when in it comes down to it, Finn." He turned back to the photo on the screen. "Everything else is just Ginny crazy logic. In all honestly, I think you were more of a tool to be used in Ginny's plan to get back at Mrs. Mullins."

"So you're telling me by forcing me to undergo an exorcism in front of an entire audience of people while she kept her class hostage in the make-up room was actually meant to show how much she loves me?"

"That and to stick it to Mrs. Mullins."

"That's crazy."

"That's Ginny."

"That's very true." Atticus went back to his photos and Finn remained on the couch starring at the black screen.

"Stupid little puke kid." Finally Finn was beginning to understand her little sister.

----------------

Earnest and Ginny in their quest for stars had ended up at the Museum of Natural History. The Museum had a show running that month about the beginning of the universe. It included enough stars to satisfy Ginny for the day at least.

"That's not how it happened." Ginny was dead serious. She and Earnest had just left the museum and were headed to a park.

"No?"

"It couldn't have been that…chaotic."

"Well, I don't know. Swirling gas can be pretty violent," said Earnest in an actual attempt at a joke. The little girl in her round glasses looked up at her companion as they strolled along hand and hand in a puzzled, serious and very guilty way. The expression didn't match her age, but it matched Ginny. Insanity makes you ageless.

"It just showed up one day in my opinion. In silence. Peacefully."

"Well the universe isn't that way anymore," replied Earnest who no doubt was thinking back to the last month and deciding he'd just made his largest understatement of the year.

"You're right," Ginny agreed, "but the sky is very silent and clouds are peaceful."

"What about thunderstorms?"

"That's not clouds. That's God making a lot of noise because clearly he doesn't like silence all that much. Look at me. Nope, clouds are simply fluffy. Can't really hurt someone when you're all fluffy," Ginny finished on a wishful note. Earnest looked down at the little girl beside him in concern and surprise. He had heard about what had happened back in Stoneybrook from Ginny all day long and the girl had been unrepentant. But were those justifications she used to try and hide her guilt? He had no doubt she had no remorse about Mrs. Mullins. She'd barely come up in the conversation, but her sister Finn had. Quite a few times in fact.

"If you were fluffy like a cloud you could still suffocate someone you know."

"Yes, I guess that's true."

"So, Ginny?"

"Yes, Earnest?"

"Watch out for killer clouds eh?"

"Alright."

"And Ginny?"

"Yah?"

"Don't ever become a normal, everyday, none killing cloud. Life would be incredibly dull that way. Imagine never doing anything to cause a thunderstorm?"

"I think there is very little chance of that Earnest. Thank You."

"Though you know, when the thunder and lightening is done generally the clouds open up and let a little sunshine through."

"Point taken."

"Good. Now let us commence with the swinging."

--------------

Mac had a lot of things on her mind. But she forgot all about it when she reached the park and found her boss and little sister. It appeared they were building New York City in the sandbox. It was one of the sweetest things she'd ever seen. Earnest was actually laughing. He was actually kind of cute when he laughed.

Review Responses:

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review and look I actually updated at a decent time. Hope you liked the chapter.

Witchytara25: Thanks for the review! Hope you liked the new chapter.


	17. War and Peace

Disclaimer: Own nothing

Bowling: The Sport of the Broken Hearted

War and Peace

Chapter 17

At four o'clock in the morning Ginny phoned Mac from the couch.

"Gwen?" was Mac's sleepy, yet hopeful greeting after a few rings.

"No."

"Ginny what are you doing with my cell phone?"

"Calling you obviously, what else would I do with it?"

"With you Ginny, one can only guess."

"That's not true."

"What can I help you with?" Mac asked wisely deciding not to argue the point.

"I like Earnest. I thought I would tell you that first."

"Alright."

"Well, you know, normally, it takes a long time for me to break people in, but Earnest was already to go. Like take-out when they deliver it to your car." It was at this point that Mac decided this conversation had to end due to complete pointlessness.

"You do realize I'm paying for this call Ginny and you're just outside my door?"

"I have to tell you something else. I really like ice cream." Yes, definitely gone on too long.

"That's great Ginny. Go to bed. There is no way Sparrow and Dad would let you be up this late, no sorry this early," finished Mac looking at her alarm clock.

"She's your mother too."

"Yes." This conversation had taken a turn she hadn't expected.

"She had a mother herself you know."

"She still does, even if at the moment she refuses to acknowledge that."

"And Mom had a Father too. Did you know he liked cheese whiz on his hamburgers? He said it brought the flavors out."

"Ginny you never met your grandfather."

"That's not relative right now Mac."

"What does that mean?"

"The important thing to remember is that Grandpa liked flavor. But the tricky thing about flavors is that some don't mix well with others and when that happens, it's best to add salt to make them all taste the same again. Or scrape off the cheese-whiz. No, wait that doesn't work, that'd be murder."

"Ginny-" But the words were lost to Mac about how to proceed. She had never been good with her sister's double talk.

"Goodnight." The phone clicked soon after. Mac starred at it in her hand in bewildered confusion and concern. Sitting in her overly squishy bed, Mac debated whether to go out to her living room and demand to know what Ginny was taking about or just leave it for now. No, she finally decided, Ginny would never talk. No, this was one for Addie to try and decipher…or Earnest, since he had somehow been blessed with the ability to decipher Ginny logic. Which lately had become much more worrisome and much more concerning then in the past.

----------------------

Finn and Watson were always the first ones up in the morning. It had become ritual. Watson would make up a fruit salad for both of them and the two would read sections of the morning paper while eating it. They never spoke. Today seemed to start off no different.

"You want the front page first?"

"Nah, I'll stick with the comics for now, Grandpa." The doorbell rang. The two looked at each other in surprise. No one they knew would ever call this early in the morning on a Saturday.

"I'll get it," Finn finally said. Watson, over his surprise, vaguely waved a spoon at her in acknowledgment.

"Err, Find-a-bhair Thomas?" the delivery man stuttered.

"What can I do for you?" Finn was used to the general mockery made of her name by most people.

"You have a package."

"I never would have guessed that." No one said she had to be nice and understanding about it though.

"Nice day to you too lady."

Watson did a double take when his granddaughter walked back into the room.

"Who's that from?"

"No idea." Finn grabbed a kitchen knife and sliced the box open relatively quickly and with worrisome good technique. Opening the flaps, Finn and Watson were hit with feeble light from at least 10 flashlights.

"What the?" uttered Watson while Finn grabbed the letter taped to the box.

"Here's the sun after the storm. Ginny."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but she's not trying to kill me. I'm going to take it as a good sign."

--------------------

"Alright, what do we think?" demanded Kia, youngest son of the O'Connelly offspring, directing this question at his older brothers sitting in his living room. Five blank stares answered him back, "My thoughts exactly." All of Sparrow's brothers had got together for breakfast in hopes of figuring out a solution to the current crisis rocking the family.

"Should we just lock them into a room and force them to talk it out?" Five stares of disbelief answered Jay. "Yes, you're right that would make it much worse." Subdued, Jay took a bite out of his banana.

"Well, what would Dad do? He was the one that always fixed things between Sparrow and Mother in the past." Kia had always been the most practical of his brothers.

Riiinnnggg!

Six men in various food consumption related poses stopped and stared at the ringing phone wondering if perhaps their father had heard them from the great beyond and was giving them a call RIGHT NOW to tell them exactly what to do. Tentatively, Kia picked up the phone.

"WHAT?" soon followed.

"She did what!" cried Lark a few minutes later.

"What exactly did she say?" broke in Robin.

"She was happy that Mother was out of her life and Mac's," answered Kia.

"Well. It's done, I suppose. This can't be fixed." Crane sighed and disheartened ate a strawberry.

"No, it can't," agreed Crane.

"Sparrow is no longer our sister." There was a stunned silence for a moment before Jay broke it with a question that merely produced more silence.

"What about Raven and Mac?"

----------------

Earnest was eating a late lunch while reading over a speech when he was interrupted by the arrival of Mac at his door.

"I forgot to thank you for taking Ginny yesterday,"

"Don't worry about it." He turned back to the screen.

"You got on her good side," she continued after a short pause.

"Huh?" he looked up briefly.

"That's nearly impossible to do."

"Oh, well, I liked her too." He hit a button on the keyboard.

"Good." Mac turned to leave but before she had passed the doorway, Earnest called out to her.

"My toes are healing nicely by the way. Did you have to use metal?"

"Well, you are very thick sometimes Earnest," Mac responded in surprise. Was he actually showing a sense of humor?

"And you're plainly mean sometimes." That comment caused her to quickly turn around. There was Earnest in his typical fashion typing away on his computer, but instead of the usual serious expression on his face, he wore, instead, a small little smile.

----------------

Sparrow furiously scrubbed at the dirty pots submerged in soapy water and bits of swollen pieces of food in her sink. Sparrow was so mad her eye was twitching and her knuckles clasped around the scrubber were completely white.

Charlie, leaning against the door frame, watched her. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"What are you looking at?" snapped Sparrow finally. Her voice sounded tired and irritated. Throwing the scrubber into the murky water, she turned and faced Charlie.

"What happened at your mother's?" he asked taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"Nothing of importance and I don't want to talk about it."

"That's new; normally you can't wait to tell me what your mother has done." He smiled feebly at her. Sparrow didn't return it.

"Yah, well you didn't treat me like something that was going to crack at the slightest sign of trouble then. Unlike now."

"Sparrow-"

"Save it Charlie. I don't want to hear it right now," she said quietly. Grabbing a dishrag she dried her hands.

"Sparrow, I'm sorry."

"Fine."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Pretty much."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know anymore Charlie. I wasn't the one to pull away. That was you."

-----------------------

Ginny looked at the package in front of her with wonder. The entire box was a bright almost neon yellow and about as tall as she was. Curious, Ginny took her scissors and dragged the sharp edge across the tape in the crack between the lids of the box. As soon as the last bit of tape had been cut, the contents of the box spilled onto the little girl, burying her up till her knees. Ginny found herself trying to wade through hundreds of thousands of yellow macaroni noodles.

Here's returning the favor. Finn.

A/N Alright, sorry about the long update. I was hit with a nasty cold and wrote most of this chapter high off extra strength Tylenol flu. I kind a wanted to proof read it before I posted it for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, as you can probably tell from the stilted conversations and lack of a lot of description, that the Tylenol heavily influenced the chapter. I tried to improve it with mixed results.

Stargirlie: Thanks for the review! I'm giving you twice the exclamation points since I put none in my last response! Yah, okay I don't know, perhaps the Tylenol hasn't quite cleared the system.

Siliana: I wish you'd awwwed all the way. Oh well. Hopefully you'll keep reading and I'll get you later. Not this chapter though.

Lisa: Yah, you came back! I'm glad you like my conversations. I love writing them (even if lack of updates seems to dispute the fact).


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